http://www.ajsonline.org/content/257/2/81.abstract
Which is a bit strange as nearby San Gorgonio was glaciated and San Jacinto is nearly as high. I wanted to look around near Marion and Jean peaks to see if any signs of former glaciers could be seen.
We started the hike at the Marion Mountain trailhead, elev. 6300', where an Adventure Pass is not required to park anymore due to the recent legal ruling. There were only two other cars at the trailhead. Under clear blues skies and temperatures in the 70s, we started up the trail, which immediately commenced a relentless climb, except where it does a brief annoying dip past a campground. The trail followed a pipeline for about a half mile until the pipe terminated at a spring box. No surface water was visible there, but a patch of lush greenery suggested that water was not far below the ground.
Marion Mtn TrailThe poorly designed and maintained Marion Mountain trail continued its relentless climb past the spring box. Despite its rough nature, I enjoyed hiking it due to the great views out toward Black Mountain, Fuller Ridge, and distant valleys beyond. And the trail is shaded by magnificent pines and firs, nice on a sunny warm day. At a mile or so, the trail briefly leveled out on a granite ledge with a grand view, a nice short hike destination for someone staying at the campground. Weaving around huge trees and picturesque granite boulders, the trail kept climbing at a good clip until reaching flat ground around the Pacific Crest Trail junction at 8600'.
We followed the famed (and better maintained) PCT as it climbed gently through a cool alpine forest to Deer Springs Crossing, where there was only a trickle of water and a few shallow pools. On the flats below I could see a big blue tarp; a plastic pipe at the spring carried water down to the camp, which was for a trail maintenance crew, I'm guessing.
Here, we left the trail and started a cross country scramble toward Marion Mountain. We followed what we thought was the Deer Springs drainage, but boulders and brush pushed us to the south, and we soon found ourselves climbing the wrong side of the Marion Mountain ridge. No problem, the x-country travel was reasonably easy though steep and bouldery. We ascended a rocky draw to a little flat at about 10,000'. then crossed over Marion Mountain ridge at a saddle. We wanted to check out the spring, so we descended to the pleasant alpine valley to the north of Marion.
Deer Spring, located at about 10,000' , turned out to be almost nonexistent. There was a patch of green grass and some false hellebore plants growing in the wet ground, pretty enough, but there was little visible water except for a pool under a boulder. However, the pool was cold and clear, and I managed to lower the intake hose of my water filter into the pool to pump some out nice fresh water. After visiting the spring we headed for the summit of Marion.
I thought that the basin north of Marion looked like a possible location for a recent (10,000 years ago roughly) ice-age glacier so I looked for old moraine debris or other such signs. I did not see any thing obvious, although the alpine basin itself could be the result of an older ice age glaciation. Oh well, I was disappointed not to find a glacier here, but we greatly enjoyed walking up the flat-floored basin timbered with lodgepole pine. The air was cool and crisp at this high elevation. We arrived at a gentle saddle NE of Marion, then picked our way up to the east summit of the peak, which offered a grand view all around. A few tiny snow patches lingered in cool nooks. It was not clear which of the three summit points of Marion was the highest, however. We worked our way west to the middle summit. Hmmm, is this the highest? I couldn't tell. The west summit was an inaccessible crag, so we did not bother with it.
marion peak viewAfter bagging Marion, we descended back down to the north basin, then headed for our next destination, Bed Springs. The 10,100' divide between Marion and Bed Springs basins was a huge flat area where an army could camp. We descended from the flat area into the drainage beyond, and quickly located Bed Springs at about 9900'. The reason for the name was soon obvious - someone years ago had packed a complete bed springs up to his favorite camp, and there it lies today, rusting away. Nearby was a rock fireplace equipped with weather-worn grills and pans, and a pile of rusty old cans. There was no water in the immediate vicinity of the camp, but not far below a clear, cold rivulet of water emerged out of the ground and ran its merry way along a lush corridor of hellebore. We lingered a long time at this little piece of paradise.
Chuck at Bed SpringsOur next peak bagging destination was Newton Drury Peak, a small but picturesque granite point. Easy cross country travel led us to the saddle between this peak and Jean, then we did the short scramble to the top of N.D, where we enjoyed a lunch break amount the granite boulders on top. Though a minor summit, Newton Drury offered a great view westward.
Next stop: Jean Peak. After lunch we descended back to the saddle and then started up toward Jean's north ridge. A tempting line of cairns lured us upward though a maze of boulders, then in the usual manner the cairns stopped just when the route up the boulder slope got steep and confusing. But we sorted it out and soon arrived at the summit ridge. Then it was a matter of following a fairly well defined informal trail through more boulders and gentle tree-covered sloped to Jean's broad and flat summit. LIke on Marion, there were a few small, scattered snowbanks, soon to be gone. Grabbing tree branches, Chuck hauled himself up to the top of the highest boulder which appeared to be the actual summit; I didn't bother.
At Jean I wanted to check out another possible glacier site. The bowl north of Jean looked like a good possibility for the site of a "recent" (10,000 to 40,000 years ago) glacier, but I could not get a view of it from the top of the mountain. We descended Jean's north ridge down to the broad 10,400' saddle between it and Jacinto, where we met another experienced hiker (Pete from Lake Arrowhead). Chatted awhile with him. Peering east down the slope here, I could see a flat about 400 feet below that could be formed by moraine debris. In fact the whole bowl looked distinctly glacier-worn in some way. I would have loved to visit the flat, but we were out of time at this point and had to head back. The trail to Mt. San Jacinto goes right through the flat, so would be easy for some geology nerd to check it out by hiking from the tram. Unfortunately, I'm stuck in Seattle for the moment, so I can't do it.
From the saddle we headed back to Newton Drury saddle on a much better route than the one we used to ascend Jean. Next we headed back to Bed Springs, then followed the lively creek all the way down to the Little Round Valley trail. We followed that path back to the PCT (note to rangers, thorny shrubs are threatening to take over the trail in some areas). Then it was a simple matter of making the long, knee-battering descent down the Marion Mtn trail in sweaty afternoon heat back to the trailhead.
Well I didn't find any definite signs of glaciers (that Jean Peak bowl must be checked out more) but it was a rewarding full day of peak bagging and spring hopping all the same!
Update 7/1/2015:
I did finally reach the Jean Peak bowl from the tram. The scooped shape of the bowl and the prominent flat area at about 10,000' that is suggestive of a glacial landform. However I saw no sign of recent moraines, ones with new looking angular blocks. Boulders were abundant but consisted of only the old rounded type. It could be that this bowl is a remnant of an older glaciation cycle, not from the last ice age 15,000 years ago
More pics:
Marion Mtn looking toward Jacinto
Deer Springs
Marion Mtn from Newton Drury
