[ Post a Response | San Gorgonio Backcountry Bulletin Board ]
Posted by David on August 21, 2009, 16:48:21, in reply to "Re: San Gorgonio Peak In the winter"
173.60.24.37
Hello Ray
I second everything Larry wrote. I did the Fish creek route 4 weeks ago and it was very nice. A relatively easy hike for the first part with great scenery. Later on it climbs pretty good but If you want to go up you have to climb sometime
. IMO It is easier than the other routes because you are starting a higher elevation but still ending at the same peak. When I last went the weather was beautiful on the way up, patchy cloud cover for most of the way but just after starting my decent... Holly Batman, Thunder, lightning, rain and hail for almost three hours. And I'm talking hail the size of small marbles..Ouch. I had One bolt come so close It looked like I could have reached out and grabbed it. Yikes. I started at 5:58am and got back to my car at 4:10pm. My Delorme GPS mapped my route out at 20.8 Miles total.For what it's worth I would say I'm in average shape and I wasn't pushing really hard. Of course your time may be faster or slower depending on your physical condition.
Like Larry said Start early for the best shot at making it back before dark and take a head lamp just in case.
Yeah, that Dirt road isn't just one of those hard packed smooth well traveled roads. It definitely doesn't require 4WD but good ground clearance helps a LOT. If you take your freaking 90 camry up there in the dark like I did the first time I went it's a rough ride and you better pick your lines very carefully. I'm quite sure my car has some pretty knarly battle scars on her undercarriage from that trip. You know, those cars have like 0.5mm of ground clearance....OK, maybe more like 6 inches but when your path has rocks that are 12" in diameter 6" of clearance just isn't so hot.
Anyway IMO the fish creek to MT SG trail is very nice and can be done in a day. I took 128OZ of water, drank plenty and still had about 1/3 left at the end but it was relatively cool that day.
@
Good Luck
David
Message Thread:
« Back to thread