| Peak | Cucamonga Peak |
|---|---|
| Group | I hiked with a group of my hiking friends |
| Trailhead | Icehouse Canyon |
When I talked to Jeff on his monthly podcast for the Six Pack of Peak challengers on Wednesday, I mentioned that I would be hiking on Cucamonga on Saturday. Jeff told me to enjoy all of the crowds. I said to myself, “Yeah, there will be some people, but it is probably because of the ice that has melted on the trail to the peak.” But, Jeff was right. We got to IceHouse Canyon parking lot at 6:00 am and it was almost full. There were tons of groups ready to hike the trail. The trail was constantly filled with people. We had to constantly let people by throughout the whole trek. There were also lots of people with their dogs. You saw every type of dog in every different size. Even though I beat my time from last year from Cucamonga, I felt that I had to stop for people every minute like I was on the freeway because the trail is narrow.
It was cool in the morning, but the trail once the sun comes up, is a trail with barely any shade. At the top, we had to wait in line for our picture on the rock. There were some bugs later in the afternoon. The rain has brought full waterfalls which are beautiful at the start and the end of the trip. We put our sore feet in the ice water to cool our feet at the end of the trip.
I couldn’t believe all of the people doing this challenge. Way more than last year. I wore my 6 peak shirt and constantly got stopped to ask me where I got it, how many peaks have I done, and how do you sign up for this. I think the 6 pack of peaks social media needs to promote the shirts more or maybe make people 6 peak ambassadors to wear the merchandise and promote the challenge. I felt like I was a walking advertisement for the 6 peak challenge. So you are welcome SoCal Hiker!
Great photos and story, Shana! Thanks for representing the challenge!
And guess what? We are working on an ambassador program. 😉
Jeff, then I would like to be the first ambassador when you start it!
Oh man! Like a freeway!! Sounds like Potato Chip Rock! ? Glad you had a good hike though!!
I also did Cucamonga Peak on Saturday and started at 6:40am. The busyness of the trail didn’t bother me too much because I met some great people along the way (I’m a solo hiker). The only thing that bothered me about the crowds was the full blown photo shoots on the rock when Inwas waiting my turn for a couple pictures.
But I have learned that if you can only hike on the weekends like myself, then you have to deal with more people on the trails.