Sunday, June 8, 2014

On Mt San Gorgonio with the Hiking Club

This weekend was our June outing, to climb 11,500' San Gorgonio Peak in a day. Our 11 hikers - the entire group - summited. SGP is the highest peak in the San Bernardino range, and all of southern California, and hiking to its summit from the Vivian Creek trailhead is over 17 miles / 5400' of gain.  I took these shots, the first looking south at the north face of 10,800' San Jacinto Peak, 22 miles distant.  The Banning Pass and I-10 lie 10,000' below, and the impressive 10,000' tall escarpment of San Jacinto Peak pins the northern terminus of the north-south Peninsular Range that runs down to the tip of Baja.  San Gorgonio peak is in the east-west trending Transverse Ranges.  Both ranges separate the more-temperate coast from the deserts of southern California.
On a really clear day (which we didn't have) I'm certain the eastern view would extend out into Arizona.
South view, San Jacinto Peak

Hiking back down