Last weekend 12 of us made the trek from Orange County to the San Bernardino Mountains for a short backpacking adventure. Our "plan" was to start at the Vivian Creek trail-head and hike 8.7 miles to the highest peak in Southern California (San Gorgonio), a hike that starts at 6,000 feet and ends at 11,500. Then, we were going to camp on the summit and hike 12.3 miles down the other side of the mountain to the South Fork trail-head where 2 cars were parked.
What really happened was......
A. We missed the trail-head
B. Hiked up a creek bed 6 miles
C. Justified we were on the right track by forcing ourselves to believe that we had passed certain landmarks (such as flowery meadows, "high creek," oak forests, etc), even though we were on the creek bed the entire time
High Creek? Nope....same creek we started on
Is that a flowery meadow?
D. Hiked back down the creek bed 6 miles.
E. Found people who knew where the trail-head was
F. Found all the signs that were knocked down during construction that pointed to the trail-head
G. Now 4:30pm, decided to hike the first 1.2 miles to the first campsite on the real trail.
H. Almost lost of few members of the team on the steepest switchbacks you've ever climbed. Seriously, the steepest!
Amy's face embodies the emotions of all hikers at this point.
I. Made it to the campsite, rolled out our tarp, rolled out our sleeping bags, warmed up some soup, ate bread and cheese, drank hot cocoa, ate 7 layer bars, Stew climbed a tree, Amy almost threw up, it got dark, tried to sleep, heard strange popping noises that I assumed were bears, planned how we would survive a bear attack, heard other "bear-like" noises but it was only Nic snoring the entire night, so mad that Nic was sleeping and I wasn't, Jacklyn and I got too hot, Lauren, Brad, and Bree got too cold, woke up in the morning and realized Brad was sleeping on the water bottle that made the bear noises that kept everyone awake the entire night.
Thanks Brad.
J. Woke up and ate oatmeal
K. Contemplated whether or not to climb the dang mountain......no one wanted to be the pansy, so we made a pros and cons list.....one noteworthy quote from the conversation "my heart is telling me yes, but my body is telling me no and I usually listen to my body" -Nic
L. We decided to continue and got to see the
real flowery meadows, oat forests, and high creek
Real High Creek. Water purification.
M. Passed a few people that slept on the summit and said it was "F*%$@ing cold" (glad we were detoured the first day)
N. Made it almost to the top where we had an incredible view
O. The gentlemen decided to roll rocks down the cliffs
Notice the boulder in Brad's arms
P. We decided to turn back after hearing the last mile takes 2 hours and we were running out of daylight (and tired)
Q. Decided to run down the mountain to get the cars on the other side to have them waiting when the others got down.
R. Bad idea to run down a mountain with 3 boys
S. Got abandoned by the boys, but had the passcode to the car at the other trail-head so had to keep running
T. Thinking of how I'm going to survive a bear attack all alone in the wilderness
U. Finally made it to where we set up camp the night before, the boys were waiting "fhew"
V. Down the switchbacks (hated them more this time)
W. Got the cars, got the backpackers
Brad....on the 15 minute drive to The Oaks
X. Headed to the Oaks restaurant (best and only restaurant nearby) for beer, fries, and onion rings
Y. Drove home to an amazing dinner prepared by Jacklyn's mom (thanks Tina!)
Z. Glad there was laughter and stories around the dinner table......wasn't sure if I'd be shunned from the friend group or not after that "adventure," but it looks like I'm still in
Next stop Yosemite.
