Peak | San Bernardino |
---|---|
Group | Ascent - Solo / Descent - Group of Fellow Hikers |
Trailhead | Momyer Creek |
This is the 2nd time I hiked this trail to both peaks and yet was another adventurous experience.
Last year in mid-August I had a very late start @ around 8:40a; the weather at the trail head was in the low 70s but the sun made the beginning of the hike quite warm.
Took me about 7 hours 20 minutes to make the summit of San Bernardino Peak – almost did not summit & there were many instances on the ascent that I wanted to turn back due to major leg cramps.
At 4:00pm when I did summit, I knew a good portion of the descent will be in the dark.
This year, I wanted to turn back while driving towards the trail head – at 5:10a it was already in the low 80s driving up the mountain & felt uneasy about something… my whole psyche was out of sync for a steep climb.
Well I ended up bagging both peaks. This time around though, instead of experiencing hiking in the dark, I along with 6 other hikers were met with over 1 ½ hours of rain & hail on the descent.
Yep, we were drenched as heck and the temps dropped down to the mid-50s while at times getting pelleted by hail.
Overall, I don’t regret making the hike & reduced the ascent time by 1 hour 40 minutes. But I now consider this particular trail to be filled with surprises and eeriness.