San Gorgonio Peak

San Gorgonio Peak is the highest peak in Southern California, 11,503 feet up the Vivian Creek trail in the San Bernardino Mountains. I planned to do this on July 3rd, which landed on a Friday, because I had the day off for the 4th of July.

The original plan was to drive down on Thursday night, park at the trailhead, take a nap, and then start early in the morning before the sun came up. I ended up being busier than I presumed, so I decided to sleep at home and then leave around 3:00 a.m. or earlier. Unfortunately, I couldn't sleep, so I just ended up driving to the trailhead, getting there around 1:30 a.m. I took a nap for about an hour and then ended up starting around 4:30 a.m. To my surprise, when I started, there was a sheriff's deputy and a search and rescue individual by the trailhead. When I was starting off, he warned me that there was a mother and daughter that had left the day before on the trail and had not been heard from since. He warned me to keep my eyes peeled and report back using my Garmin inReach if I saw them.

It was a long day, and to be quite honest, I hated this trail. I didn't find it to be very pretty, and it was blazing hot. The sun was pretty relentless, and frankly, I didn't feel very good. Nonetheless, I slogged and slogged and finally made my way to the peak. As was the hike, the peak was very unceremonious. For about 20 minutes, it was just me and another guy in his 50s. I relaxed up there for a bit and then headed down. I was thankful to be back at my car and do not plan on returning to this trail anytime soon. Although, one day, I would like to do this in the winter.

P.S. An email hit my inbox later that afternoon notifying me that the mother and daughter had been found, they had just been lost.