| Peak | San Bernardino |
|---|---|
| Group | N/A |
| Trailhead | San Bernardino Peak |
Liz and my first attempt at a backpack summit – we left San Bernardino Peak trailhead a little late at just after 8:00 toward Columbine Springs. I was really struggling with the weight of my pack and getting the adjustment all right. This trail goes up a series of pretty tough switchbacks in the first couple of miles but once you attain some elevation it’s really quite nice strolling along among tall pines and scrappy manzanita.
We dipped down to Columbine Springs and weren’t even sure we were at the proper camp but since the trail petered out going downstream we found a flat area with a couple of large rocks to use as furniture and set up our tent and gratefully unloaded our supplies. After a short rest and a quick lunch we headed back up to the main trail toward the summit.
The way up was fairly easy, passing through Limber Pine Bench (which I can see why it’s such a popular campground, it looked amazing) and checking out “the bench” and Washington’s Monument. We met some other hikers who were going all the way to the summit with their heavy packs before going back to Columbine to set up camp but we never saw them again so I’m not sure they made it back to camp.
There was a good group at the summit, all doing the Six Pack challenge so we hung out a bit while Liz and I enjoyed our traditional summit beers before hoofing it back to camp to cook up a little dinner before sundown. We did stop at a lovely stream to get water on the way down and discovered that adding some Gatorade powder to your treated water really hides the chemical taste!
The next morning, after not great sleep, we explored around our campsite a little bit and found the proper campsite sign and a few overgrown areas that could also serve to set up tents, it’s obviously not a very well used campground. The stream was flowing well further down so we really could have got water down there but no big deal. The hike out was uneventful and after debating whether to take a side trip to Big Bear or not we settled on lunch in Redlands and heading home for Game of Thrones.
