This blog will detail 1,000 video hikes in Southern California. By Southern California, I am drawing a line from San Luis Obispo to the Nevada Border. Anything south of that line will be declared "Southern California". In a way, it is a personal challenge to do so many hikes. Mainly, however, it is my way of showcasing how many hiking opportunities there really are right in our own geographic back yard. As a blog, it serves as a companion piece to my Youtube channel "1,000 Hikes in So Cal". It is also a work in progress, as I don't actually have 1,000 edited videos completed. This will take effort for quite some time before it is declared done. Even then, there will still be more out there. Here's to hiking and all the positive effects it has had on my life...and possibly yours!
Showing posts with label San Bernardino Mountains. Show all posts
Showing posts with label San Bernardino Mountains. Show all posts
The hike begins from a parking area off Highway 18. This is also the beginning of Forest Road 2N40. The road is drivable, but it is rather rough and steep in places. Since I was there to hike anyway, I kept my car off the dirt roads and just walked them. FR 2N40 intersects Cloudland Truck Trail in 1.3 miles. At that point, there is a four way junction, with Marshall Peak straight ahead. I chose to go right and visit the highest point on the hike first, Peak 4120.
Looking down toward Marshall Peak.
I followed a utility road to its top in 0.3 miles and about a 220 foot gain. A utility building and tower sits on the summit. After a quick turnaround, my next target was Marshall Peak. This would mark my fourth visit to its summit, where paragliders often utilize as a launching point. On this day, there were no paragliders there, which made for a more peaceful summit visit than usual. Since my plan was to get all the nearby peaks, I next ventured over to Cloud Peak, which was due west about a mile. The road went most of the way, with a slight diversion to the summit. Views were similar to Marshall Peak, but the difference was that Marshall Peak was in the view.
On the summit of Cloud Peak.
After quickly having three peaks in the bag, I wanted to include two more that were lower down the ridge to the southeast. It is possible to park lower down on Highway 18 to get a closer jumping off point to these lower peaks, but the parking situation is not very plentiful. I instead decided to add it to this hike and get all of them in one shot. This meant that I had to descend the ridge and lose about a thousand feet of elevation along the way. This, of course, meant that I would need to re-gain that elevation coming back. However, with the specter of achieving two new summits, I hesitated very little and set off. The first peak was just a little below Marshall Peak, which was Peak 3992. This peak seemed almost like a twin peak to Marshall Peak, however, since it was slightly shorter it got completely overlooked, and even un-named.
Looking over at Marshall Peak from Peak 3992.
I continued the drop on the ridge to reach a use trail, that led to the lower summit of the day, Peak 3215. Peak 3215 also has a utility building and towers crowning the top. I took in this new summit for me, but all I could think about was the long climb back up Cloudland Truck Trail. I sucked it up, though, and made it back with little difficulty. It was nice to turn off my climbing gear, though, on the way back to the parking lot from the junction with Marshall Peak.
Coming freshly off of my Sugarpine Mountain visit on my previous hike, the ascent of Cajon Mountain came up the opposite slope to the North. I utilized the same forest road which comes up from Silverwood Lake State Recreation Area.
Taking the Cajon Mountain summit road.
In my younger days, I actually drove up the rough road from Silverwood. However, this time I wanted to hike the entire way to the summit. That's supposed to be what hikers do, after all!
Cajon Mountain Lookout.
The hike is on the dirt road all the way to the junction with Cajon Peak. I was glad I hiked it, since I only encountered a few cars on a generally peaceful hike. The Cajon Peak junction is gated and can only be accessed on foot or Mountain bike. So even drivers would need to set off on foot from there. I hiked it to the end of the road to reach Cajon Lookout.
Approaching Cajon Mountain High Point.
The summit has foundations and a small summit structure. There is also great views into the Cajon Pass. While turning back around, there is a summit trail that goes to the true summit of Cajon Mountain. I needed to bushwhack much of the way.
Cajon Mountain summit.
Views were not as good from this true summit. It was a long walk back from there, but at least it was downhill all the way!
Having visited Bailey Canyon more than once over the years, I had developed a yearning to hike the road up to the high peaks. I had hiked it to Monument Peak years ago, and knew that if I were to hike further, the day hike would take me all day.
Peak #1: Monument Peak.
The road is rough, but is also drivable. Though, I was not willing to take my own vehicle up the road. This meant that I would need to be committed to hike nearly 20 miles to cover the ground that I had in mind.
Monument Peak summit plaque.
The historical plaque of Fr. Francisco Garces still sits on the summit like it did on my first visit.
Bailey Peak.
When the day came to carry out the plan, I was ready, willing, and eager. I set out shortly after sunrise and hiked the 5 miles to Monument Peak. It seemed almost unchanged from my visit of two decades previous. Then, as I continued along the road going west, I started covering new territory. I visited the two Bailey Peaks before eventually arriving at Sugarpine Mountain. A short but steep use trail took me to the summit, where I was able to check off my 4th Peak on the day.
Sugarpine Mountain.
With the climbs completed, all I had to do was return down Bailey Canyon. Although mostly downhill, this was no small task, since it was at least another 8 miles (my mileage counter was out of whack and inaccurate, since I was due for an IOS update on my iPhone). With minimal breaks, I managed to finish a few hours before sunset and feeling rather gratified in completing a task that I had plotted out long ago.
Summary Whitewater Preserve sits in an usual and generally unstable location in the San Bernardino Mountain foothills. It is unstable, since the area sits within the Whitewater drainage zone. If water flows heavily through the canyon, then the road gets closed and so do the hiking trails. Otherwise, the landscape is rather dry and desert like, as it is also in the desert transition zone. From the parking lot, I made a left next to the parking lot entrance, where the signed trail begins. It starts out on a maintained pathway before crossing through the rocky river channel. Once across the channel, the trail connects with the Pacific Crest Trail and stays on the left side of the river channel.
Approaching Forks Benchmark on the PCT.
At about 2.5 miles in, the trail reaches cliffsides adjacent to Red Dome. Red Dome is nothing more than a giant red boulder sitting in the river channel. It is worth a visit, with an easy scramble to its top. I concentrated more on the cliff wall, where a use trail goes up its side. Once on top of the cliffs, a use trail continues to a higher point. Some minor bushwhacking brought me to the summit of Forks Benchmark. I found the benchmark and took in the views. Looking up the ridge, I could see a somewhat direct route further up the ridge to Nob Benchmark about 1.5 miles away. I didn't come out there expecting to climb Nob Benchmark, so I made sure to take note of it for a future hike.
On the summit of Forks Benchmark.
I returned back to the trail after visiting Forks Benchmark and returned to the parking lot to complete a quick visit. The weather was perfect, but I felt a little disappointed by not continuing to Nob Benchmark. However, I was a little pressed for time. I will definitely be back someday to extend the hike further next time, and also wipe away a little bit of the "hiker's guilt" that I inadvertently created for myself on the visit.
