San Bernardino Peak Trail Report

“Went on patrol in the San Gorgonio Wilderness on the San Bernardino Peak Trail (approx 70 miles east of Los Angeles) (webshots trip album). (Wingding was here not too long ago). My patrol partner was Lee - a first-year volunteer. Lee is a retired Los Angeles County Sheriff whose last 8 years were spent as the deputy sheriff at Two Harbors on Catalina Island…How’s that for atmosphere!

We hit the trail (5960 ft. elev.) just before 9 a.m. with good weather. There was lots of cover mixed in with good views of the San Bernardino area and San Gabriel Mountains. In the morning a fire started near Interstate 15 at a place called Glen Helen. We could see the fire from the trail and listen to the firefighting on our Forest Service radio. They got the fire out around nightfall.

After about 3 miles and 2000 ft. elevation gain we reached Manzanita Flats, one of my favorite places in the wilderness. It was very pretty. The trail was very empty. We only saw three people on Saturday once we actually crossed the wilderness boundary. After 4.0 miles we had lunch at the trail junction to Columbine Springs Camp (8200 ft. elev.) and then pressed on to Limber Pine Bench to camp for the night. In all my years in the San Gorgonio Wilderness I had never gone to Limber Pine Bench so I was excited to finally be headed there.

We got to Limber Pine Bench after another 1.7 miles and another 1000 ft of elevation. After pitching our tents we headed for Washington’s Monument at 10,280 ft. I always wanted to see it as well. (Last October we were supposed to go up there to assist with the filming of an episode of “California’s Gold” with Huell Hauser, but they cancelled out). We went cross country part of the way because I was using my GPS map. Turned out that the GPS location was a little off. We found the trail again and followed it. The views around the south side of the mountain of Mill Creek, Mt. San Jacinto, and Mt. San Gorgonio were great.

We finally reached Washington’s Monument. This was the location of the surveying tower used to conduct the first survey the Southern California area. We saw the plaque that had been installed to commemorate the event (see photo album). The original tower is long gone, but the pile of rocks used to support it is still there along with a number of artifacts. After taking some pictures we blasted back to camp to filter water at Limber Pine Springs and cook some dinner before it got dark.

As we ate our dinner it got dark we had a beautiful sunset to watch. After that we had lots of stars. During the night there were flashes of light from a storm somewhere east of us.

In the morning we got up early and hit the trail at 6:50 a.m. We were back to the trailhead at 9:40 a.m. It was a great hike and Lee was great company. We only saw one pair of hikers on the way down. Thankfully we saw no trash or fire rings to clean up. This was a truly pristine trail.

Bizarre conclusion is that I hiked and backpacked 15 miles with no problems. Then today I reached down to pick up a piece of paper an tweaked my back...I can barely walk...Go figure!”

“Hey Phil - I hope the back's okay soon. At least you didn't pick up that paper before your hike ;-)”

“Nice. When I think of hiking, L.A. (socal) never comes to mind. Thanks for reminding me that it exists down younder. The webshots link didn't work me. :(”

“Let's try this link”

“That link worked. Hope the back gets better. That happens to me too, usually after a hike. But luckily its better before I leave Friday!

I don't remember the Washington Plaque up there. Is it new? I remember seeing the pile of rocks.”

“That must be then new Plaque they were planning to put up when the forest closed last year. Nice pictures Phil!. I love Limber Pine Bench, but I haven't camped there yet. I'm going to get up there this fall sometime.

We did the Forsee Creek Trail to Shields Peak on Sunday. It was just beautiful out there - not hot at all on Sunday and we even got a few drops of rain.”

“SN - The plaque says it was dedicated October 12, 2002. But I don't know exactly when they got up there to install it. There is a duplicate plaque just a couple feet up from the trailhead that we were told the Girl Scouts installed. Both installations looked very new.”

“Phil, that looked like a great trip and it's cool you're volunteering. Makes me wish I was cloesr to retirement! It's fun to find some of those old survey markers. We run across old mineral surveys sometimes up here and they're pretty interesting.”

“Wishing you a speedy recovery from the back strain. Nice trip report. Did you get to pick your area of patrol?”

“Great trip report Phil.Sorry about your back,hope it's better soon. :~ )”

“Nice report Phil. I hope the hitch in yer get along mends soon. Youve been a volunteer up there for some time. Have you seen any bears yet? I still have great memories of our last trip...seems soooo long ago.”

“Thanks everyone. I will be hobbling around for a couple of days while my muscle strain heals. I am alternating hot & cold packs.

jvz - They generally send patrols on 6 or 7 of the trailheads into the wilderness. I could request one of the trailheads, but I like to be surprised. I have been assigned to the Vivian Creek Trail and Dollar Lake more than any of the others.

10 bears - I finally saw a bear last summer at Halfway Camp on the Vivian Creek Trail. It was a young one and was easily detered. A large bear invaded our camp another time last summer, but I slept through it!!”