Trying to get more creative with my post titles
Yeti (Jeff Scofield), Kat (Jim Porter) and this Polar Bear did the San Gorgonio 9 peaks yesterday. We started hiking up Vivian at 2 AM after leaving a car at Angelus Oaks. Thanks so much to the San Gorgonio Yeti and CalicoKat for starting at O darkhundred so the Polar Bear could avoid the heat on the climb to San Gorogonio. Our first water stop was at High Creek.
We headed back down the ridge after an early breakfast on Grayback, then summited Jepson and Baby Jepson (the unamed peak to the west of Jepson). Then we dropped down the sandy slope and climbed up Little Charlton. Another descent and climb to Charlton. Dropped over the south side of Charlton to gain the trail to Dollar Saddle. We could see clouds building up over San Gorgonio as we headed west.
It was nice to be back on the ridge trail. I love the views to the north where the trail is cut into the side of the rock. It was really starting to warm up, so we headed down to High Meadow Springs for water and took a nice break before continuing on. Beautiful area and gorgeous views -- my first time in that area. Got fooled by the false peaks before Alto Diablo -- I won't forget this on my next 9 peak trip. Before long we were climbing up the rock pile aka Shields peak. This summit looks different from any other in the San Gorgonios -- does anyone know the geology?
My feet started to complain on the descent from Shields
We enjoyed the softness of the trail to the base of Anderson, then made our way up to the summit. By this time, everything was starting to hurt, so I downed some vitamin A (Alleve). Back down to the trail and over to East San Bernardino peak. I suddenly realized I haven't been there since doing the 9 peaks in September of 2009 
Then, finally, we were on our way to West San Berardino peak. At this point, I'd had enough of the ups and downs on the ridge -- my quads would cramp everytime we headed up after a drop.
Made the final push to the last summit and holy cow
it looked like the summit of San Jacinto. By this I'm refering to the volume of hikers. A final fuel and rest break, then the never ending descent. We stopped at Limber Pine Springs for a water break and bandana dip -- I wanted to stay there forever. Unfortunately, Yeti and Polar Bear left her car at the Oaks restaurant to save some time in the wee hours of the morning. We questioned this decision all the way down the dirt road 
Jim noted that he wanted our mileage to exceed a marathon -- he got his wish (26.6 miles) and over 8 K of climbing.
The air conditioning in the car felt heavenly on the way back to the Vivian creek parking area. Yeti and CalicoKat headed home and I had a great dinner at El Mexicano before doing the same.
Thanks again guys for a great day
Miles of smiles,
Ellen
Going to take Calicokat's suggestion and use Glide as a preventive measure.