| Peak | San Gorgonio |
|---|---|
| Group | N/A |
| Trailhead | VIVIAN CREEK |
Vivian trail is the shortest but steepest trail to San G summit. It starts in the forest falls beautiful valley, 5,500+ feet from the summit. There are many switchbacks along the way, the beginning ones are the toughest, you climb 1,000′ in 1 mile. We saw several dry camping spots along the way. After the mile of switchbacks the trail is pretty steady, great photo shots in the dense forest for a good 1.5 miles, then you start the switchbacks again. We heard water by high creek. More switchbacks, then we reached the treelines, we were amazed that we could see San Jacinto Mt from our climb. It was gorgeous, so close, yet so far, we already summit SJ peak by now and it appeared to be so much smaller from where we were. We saw several false peaks along the top ridge. Thank goodness for other trekkers headed back down who advised us of where the true peak was, not visible yet. it seemed like an eternity but we reached the peak and it was definitely worth it.
Watch out for bears! on our descent we heard a loud noise, like brush to brush, we assumed it was the young guys cutting through the trails to avoid the switchbacks, BUT no, to my surprise it was a large black bear, running down the hill, crossed our trail and continued, without even looking our way, thank goodness! he was about 50 feet away from us. Later our group came accross some does and a buck grazing along the hillside. San G definitely made me work for the summit, it took our group 12.5 hours with rests along the way. The way down always seems longer than the way up. I drank close to 7 litters of water. I carried all my water, next time, I think I might invest in a filter and go that route. The added water weight definitely is hard on my shoulders. More incentive to keep drinking.
