San Bernardino Peak

Elevation: 10,650'

San Bernardino Peak Photos

8/10/02

All 13 hikers made the summit! Even if it was the wrong mountain, it worked. Our first choice, San Gorgonio Peak, was apparently full when we arrived at the ranger station just before 8 am. Only so many permits are issued each day and most are done in advance by reservation. Since our group was so large, we had no chance of getting on the Vivian Creek Trail. Instead, the nice "ranger lady" offered us another challenge which we openly accepted. San Bernardino Peak, San G's neighbor to the north, was a great alternative since the total mileage and elevation gain was about the same and the Angelus Camp Trailhead was only 15 minutes away.

In the chaos of finding the trailhead, we lost 1 of the 4 cars in our group.

Eileen Stephens, Mac O'Donell, Greg Ocasek, Greg Weiler, Steve?, Mike Canfield, Doug Reeves and my self all started up the trail at 8:30 am. Bingo stayed behind to wait for the missing vehicle which contained the remainder of the group; Craig Atkins, Jamie Craig, Bryan Atkins and Angelique Atkins (the latter two flew in from the East Coast!). They got on the trail about 20 minutes back, but it wasn't long before they caught up with the rest of the group.

The trail switch backed the first 1200' till we reached the long manzanita-covered ridge which led us to the half way point at the John's Meadow /Columbine Springs junction. It was about here where Eileen, Bingo and I separated from the faster hikers. We had a steady pace and lots of determination to get to the top of that mountain. Somewhere between Limber Pine Bench and the summit we stopped for lunch and tried choking down "soggy" sandwiches. I guess that is what happens when you put a cold, plastic-wrapped sandwich in a hot, sun-exposed backpack?

I estimate that the first group made the summit between 1:30 pm -2:30 pm. Around 3 pm, we passed all 10 of them on their descent; cheerfully staggering back down the trail. By their pace, it was obvious that their primary intent was to get back to the Eurovan and the cooler stocked with ice cold refreshments. By their estimates, we were only 30 minutes from the summit. By the time we had reached the summit, rested, took pictures and started heading down; it was 4 pm. The three of us were feeling great and we had plenty of daylight and water for the descent. What took 7.5 hrs going up took 3.75 hrs going down. We reached the Eurovan at about 7:45 pm, tired but ecstatic about our accomplishments. We were even happier to find that the first group left us something in the cooler!

Eileen (and I'm sure a few others) broke a personal best for "elevation gain in one day" at 4,650'. Good Job. We also logged 16 miles and I'm sure there were a few blisters to prove it. Congratulations to all for another successful summit. And thank you for "spending the day at the office" with WOW!

Todd "GOON" Whear

8/13/02

Photos from the San Bernardino Peak adventure