Six-Pack of Peaks challenge… In 6 days in October?

[Dan Crompton]

Hey,

We’re thinking of doing the 6-Pack of Peaks across 6 days in October. We’re experienced mountain hikers. I guess I have a couple of questions…

1. Apart from having very tired legs, is there any reason not to do 6 peaks across a week or 10 days?
2. Will all the trails be walkable in early Oct?
3. Do any of the trails require specialist equipment? We have decent, worn-in boots and walking poles, and don’t want to do any climbing etc.

Thanks for any advice you can give!!
Dan

[Jeff H]

Dan,

Talk about taking it to a whole new level! That’s a big goal!
It’s doable, if you’re up for long mileage days. If you just came off hiking the JMT or something, it might even be a “walk in the woods” since you wouldn’t have to carry a heavy backpack.

All the routes I’ve detailed on SoCalHiker are plain ol’ hiking trails with no special equipment necessary. Note that the top of San Jacinto requires a bit of boulder scrambling, but nothing outrageous.

As for the weather, October can be unpredictable. With the big El Niño predicted, we may have a bumper crop of rain (or even snow) in October. It’s happened before. If at all possible, I would do this as early as possible in October.

Keep us posted, and good luck!

[Dan Crompton]

Great – thanks for taking the time to respond.

We’re getting this all booked now, so am looking forward to it!
Thanks,
Dan

[Lora W]

Hi Dan! I’m new to the forum and the 6 pack challenge but doing all of this with the intention of a JMT thru hike in 2017. I’m curious if you followed through with your intention to do the 6 peaks in one week or so and how that worked for you?

[Dan Crompton]

Hi Lora,

Doing the 6 peaks in a week was a bit of a push – especially as it was about 100F in LA at the time we went! It was also our first time in LA so we wanted to make sure we didn’t miss out on seeing the city.

We ended up doing 3 of the peaks, plus 1 long hike in the desert around Palm Springs. The stand-outs by far were Mount Baldy (Mt San Antonio) and Mt San Jacinto. They are both absolutely stunning treks, and I would do them again in a heartbeat. Mt Wilson was pleasant but not as visually stunning as the others.

Since Cucamonga and Baldy are right by each other (literally the same car park), it seemed like we’d be duplicating the experience by doing them both within the space of a week. I wonder if the same is true of San Bernardino and San Gorgonio, which are very close to one another.

Good luck with the hike! We absolutely loved the treks we did around LA and Palm Springs… Trip of a lifetime!
Dan

[Lora W]

Thanks for responding, Dan. Sounds like an amazing week. Glad you had such a fabulous time.

[Nancy R]

That’s impressive Dan. I did Cucamonga and Badly back to back – two alone was exhausting.

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