Route Climbed: Vivian Creek Date Climbed: August 28, 2005
Wonderful long hike up on a perfect morning... until I pulled a muscle or something right at my knee about 10 feet below the summit. I can only say that the walk back down was long and painfull, but still well worth it!
Route Climbed: Fish Creek Date Climbed: August 15.05
Camped at the summit. Whoa, extremely windy and cold for August man(I didn't know what to expect exactly)!! Despite this, worth it for amazing sunset/sunrise and starlights. The night/early morning views are much more interesting than the day views!......FYI, There is snow to melt around the summit, but the nearest water from there was a spring/stream between Fish Creek Saddle and Lodgepole Spring.
Route Climbed: Vivian Creek Date Climbed: August 13, 2005
This trail kicked my butt good! I didn't truly appreciate the steepness until the descent. Gorgeous day on the summit, lots of people, several dogs and a couple summit campers setting up their prime viewing spots for the meteor showers.
Route Climbed: Vivian Creek Date Climbed: 08/06/05
The mountain is almost completely snow free finally. Clouds rolled in early, but didn't really gather til early afternoon. Tagged the summit just after 12, in time to hear the first claps of thunder as we headed down. Very nice hike, the creek are incredibly green right now, water is flowing.
Route Climbed: Vivian Creek Date Climbed: 23 July 2005
Dayhiked starting at a late start around 10:30am with blmcclain. Was quite a long day, went from frying in the valley to near hypothermia waiting for the storm to clear up on the mountain. Around 4pm, it looked like it might clear up, but it never did. So we pumped it up to the summit at 6pm and had a long hike down in the scary dark.
Route Climbed: Vivian Creek Date Climbed: 23rd July, 2005
Wow, underestimated this a bit! Didn't realize that it was a quota trail. Thanks to Bob who's ankle gave out and gave us his pass we were able to hike the trail. Made High Camp in three hours and held out there for an hour and a half waiting for the storm to pass. Headed up for the summit just after 3 pm finally reaching the top around 6 pm. Gonna have to climb this one again because the only views were from the inside of a cloud. Returned via the trail reaching the parking lot just after 11 pm with a few bump, brusies and a severly turned ankle. As always, my intrepid partner rgreene joined me on this adventure. Yes misery does love company!
Route Climbed: Vivian Creek Date Climbed: July 16, 2005
An early start made for nice weather (hotter on the way down). There was still some snow after 9500 ft. Spent 8 hours hiking. Would like to try again in the winter.
Route Climbed: Mineshaft then Cross Country Date Climbed: 7/9/2005
Mineshaft trail to the peak was mostly covered in snow. Have done S. Fork and Vivian and this is by far the best - remote, grand views and a real butt-kicker! Try it in a few weeks when the snow melts down a bit.
Route Climbed: South Fork Trail / North Slopes from Dry Lake Date Climbed: May 29, 2005
Duane and I followed Dennis Poulin's report and ascended directly up the north slopes above Dry Lake to the summit ridge. The snow was in great shape, but the wind on the summit was strong and cold. Great glissading on the descent except up high were the icy surface was less than comfortable at times. I finally got the Gorgonio monkey off my back! It was our eighth Ultra prominence peak in eight days, with one more to go the following day, Hayford Peak.
Route Climbed: Vivian Creek Date Climbed: August 1993
My very first hike. An Eagle Scout buddy of mine thought it might be fun to quickly run up to the top of this mountain. Living in the Temecula area, he thought it would be no problem to drive up to the trailhead, hike to the summit, and get back to Temecula in time for me to work a 6 hour shift that evening. Boy, was he WRONG!
We did pretty well getting to the summit, but I was expectedly VERY tired. I had no idea that the climbing would be as difficult as it was.
We lost the trail about 3 miles from the trailhead, and bushwhacked. It was precarious, and we resorted to following a small creekbed that we knew would eventually empty into Vivian Creek. We reached the end of the creek as it dumped some 300 feet over a cliff to Vivian Creek below! We fortunately found a very steep but negotiable trail to skid down on our butts and about a mile hike up Vivian Creek back to our car.
This hike got me excited about hiking, and later in the month we hiked up in the Sierra Nevada.
Route Climbed: South Fork, Dollar Lake Date Climbed: April 30, 2005
We were on fresh trail the whole way past South Fork Meadows. It was difficult travel; too slushy for crampons but icy in spots, too steep for snow shoes. It was really fun, but the effort it required kept us from summiting. I guess we should have followed all the foot steps to Dry Lake, but we still had a good adventure on a great day.
Route Climbed: South Fork into somewhere and across Jepson Peak Date Climbed: 5 April o5
Hadn't considered climbing Gorgonio but it's been staring me in the face for a week, so I planned a day hike as far as I could go from the South Fork Trail to Dollar Lake (?) until 1430 and I'll be damned, I summitted the thing! Ended up sandwiched on the north side between Gorgonio, Jepson and Little Charlton. Front-pointed to summit of Jepson to cut time and it was exhilerating glissading back down. Snow was great, waaay too much sunshine, my face is fried, a blister bloodied and thankfully I had an hour's worth of obscenities stored up for the trek from Jepson's to Gorgonio summit. What a slog! Why do I do these things solo?!
What's with the cables on Gorgonio summit? And which hump is the true summit? I stood on all of them just to be safe. :) Someone needs to replace the Jepson sign too. (I didn't break it)
Route Climbed: SouthFork Trail Date Climbed: Summer and Winter
The summer hikes on this peak have been very tiring, but the terrain is very beautiful. During the winter, I had an overnighter where we camped at Dry Lake. The snow was thick, and snowshoeing the trail was fun. The night at the Lake was very tranquil; after dinner we drank beers and smoked cigars on all the ice and snow in the middle of the lake. I would like to do this one in the winter again.
thomascanty - Sep 3, 2005 10:24 pm
Route Climbed: Vivian Creek Date Climbed: August 31, 2005My seventh time to the top.
banjobonch - Aug 28, 2005 8:43 pm
Route Climbed: Vivian Creek Date Climbed: August 28, 2005Wonderful long hike up on a perfect morning... until I pulled a muscle or something right at my knee about 10 feet below the summit. I can only say that the walk back down was long and painfull, but still well worth it!
solviking - Aug 17, 2005 1:31 pm
Route Climbed: Fish Creek Date Climbed: August 15.05Camped at the summit. Whoa, extremely windy and cold for August man(I didn't know what to expect exactly)!! Despite this, worth it for amazing sunset/sunrise and starlights. The night/early morning views are much more interesting than the day views!......FYI, There is snow to melt around the summit, but the nearest water from there was a spring/stream between Fish Creek Saddle and Lodgepole Spring.
Ranboze - Aug 14, 2005 1:31 pm
Route Climbed: Vivian Creek Date Climbed: August 13, 2005This trail kicked my butt good! I didn't truly appreciate the steepness until the descent. Gorgeous day on the summit, lots of people, several dogs and a couple summit campers setting up their prime viewing spots for the meteor showers.
thebeave7 - Aug 7, 2005 4:45 pm
Route Climbed: Vivian Creek Date Climbed: 08/06/05The mountain is almost completely snow free finally. Clouds rolled in early, but didn't really gather til early afternoon. Tagged the summit just after 12, in time to hear the first claps of thunder as we headed down. Very nice hike, the creek are incredibly green right now, water is flowing.
Eric
rgreene - Jul 24, 2005 2:44 pm
Route Climbed: Vivian Creek Date Climbed: 23 July 2005Dayhiked starting at a late start around 10:30am with blmcclain. Was quite a long day, went from frying in the valley to near hypothermia waiting for the storm to clear up on the mountain. Around 4pm, it looked like it might clear up, but it never did. So we pumped it up to the summit at 6pm and had a long hike down in the scary dark.
blmcclain - Jul 24, 2005 2:28 pm
Route Climbed: Vivian Creek Date Climbed: 23rd July, 2005Wow, underestimated this a bit! Didn't realize that it was a quota trail. Thanks to Bob who's ankle gave out and gave us his pass we were able to hike the trail. Made High Camp in three hours and held out there for an hour and a half waiting for the storm to pass. Headed up for the summit just after 3 pm finally reaching the top around 6 pm. Gonna have to climb this one again because the only views were from the inside of a cloud. Returned via the trail reaching the parking lot just after 11 pm with a few bump, brusies and a severly turned ankle. As always, my intrepid partner rgreene joined me on this adventure. Yes misery does love company!
Climbing Webers - Jul 19, 2005 8:44 pm
Route Climbed: Vivian Creek Date Climbed: July 16, 2005An early start made for nice weather (hotter on the way down). There was still some snow after 9500 ft. Spent 8 hours hiking. Would like to try again in the winter.
soliddoctor - Jul 12, 2005 3:03 pm
Route Climbed: Mineshaft then Cross Country Date Climbed: 7/9/2005Mineshaft trail to the peak was mostly covered in snow. Have done S. Fork and Vivian and this is by far the best - remote, grand views and a real butt-kicker! Try it in a few weeks when the snow melts down a bit.
SkydiveKen - Jul 4, 2005 1:13 am
Route Climbed: Followed nine peaks Date Climbed: August 2004Spent the night at Dry Lake View wondering if the tent was going to blow away. Could barly stand up on the summit. Very clear day.
drewcmf - Jun 9, 2005 3:13 pm
Route Climbed: Vivian Creek Date Climbed: April 2004The beginnings of the CMF lifestyle...High Creek camp.
Bob Bolton - Jun 7, 2005 2:31 am
Route Climbed: South Fork Trail / North Slopes from Dry Lake Date Climbed: May 29, 2005Duane and I followed Dennis Poulin's report and ascended directly up the north slopes above Dry Lake to the summit ridge. The snow was in great shape, but the wind on the summit was strong and cold. Great glissading on the descent except up high were the icy surface was less than comfortable at times. I finally got the Gorgonio monkey off my back! It was our eighth Ultra prominence peak in eight days, with one more to go the following day, Hayford Peak.
Dennis Poulin - May 17, 2005 9:56 pm
Route Climbed: South Fork Date Climbed: 13 May 2005Beautiful day, no one else on the summit. Great glissade off the summit ridge.
cjrandall - May 12, 2005 1:12 pm
Route Climbed: Vivian Creek Date Climbed: August 1993My very first hike. An Eagle Scout buddy of mine thought it might be fun to quickly run up to the top of this mountain. Living in the Temecula area, he thought it would be no problem to drive up to the trailhead, hike to the summit, and get back to Temecula in time for me to work a 6 hour shift that evening. Boy, was he WRONG!
We did pretty well getting to the summit, but I was expectedly VERY tired. I had no idea that the climbing would be as difficult as it was.
We lost the trail about 3 miles from the trailhead, and bushwhacked. It was precarious, and we resorted to following a small creekbed that we knew would eventually empty into Vivian Creek. We reached the end of the creek as it dumped some 300 feet over a cliff to Vivian Creek below! We fortunately found a very steep but negotiable trail to skid down on our butts and about a mile hike up Vivian Creek back to our car.
This hike got me excited about hiking, and later in the month we hiked up in the Sierra Nevada.
Freddys27 - May 2, 2005 8:05 pm
Route Climbed: South Fork, Dollar Lake Date Climbed: April 30, 2005We were on fresh trail the whole way past South Fork Meadows. It was difficult travel; too slushy for crampons but icy in spots, too steep for snow shoes. It was really fun, but the effort it required kept us from summiting. I guess we should have followed all the foot steps to Dry Lake, but we still had a good adventure on a great day.
Deb - Apr 6, 2005 2:20 pm
Route Climbed: South Fork into somewhere and across Jepson Peak Date Climbed: 5 April o5Hadn't considered climbing Gorgonio but it's been staring me in the face for a week, so I planned a day hike as far as I could go from the South Fork Trail to Dollar Lake (?) until 1430 and I'll be damned, I summitted the thing! Ended up sandwiched on the north side between Gorgonio, Jepson and Little Charlton. Front-pointed to summit of Jepson to cut time and it was exhilerating glissading back down. Snow was great, waaay too much sunshine, my face is fried, a blister bloodied and thankfully I had an hour's worth of obscenities stored up for the trek from Jepson's to Gorgonio summit. What a slog! Why do I do these things solo?!
What's with the cables on Gorgonio summit? And which hump is the true summit? I stood on all of them just to be safe. :) Someone needs to replace the Jepson sign too. (I didn't break it)
Zhenya77 - Apr 5, 2005 8:05 pm
Route Climbed: Via the Jepson Peak Summit Date Climbed: March 27, 2005From the summit of the Jepson Peak I traversed along the ridge untill I reached the summit of the San Gorgonio
bechtt - Mar 12, 2005 2:21 pm
Route Climbed: Various Date Climbed: Summer 89, 90Climbed about dozen times while living in Redlands
theronmoon - Mar 4, 2005 9:52 am
Route Climbed: Vivian Creek Date Climbed: 11/93ran into a bear on the way down, he ran one way i the other.
Freddys27 - Mar 3, 2005 9:37 am
Route Climbed: SouthFork Trail Date Climbed: Summer and WinterThe summer hikes on this peak have been very tiring, but the terrain is very beautiful. During the winter, I had an overnighter where we camped at Dry Lake. The snow was thick, and snowshoeing the trail was fun. The night at the Lake was very tranquil; after dinner we drank beers and smoked cigars on all the ice and snow in the middle of the lake. I would like to do this one in the winter again.