San Gorgonio is the highest peak in Southern California at 11,503 feet. The hike starts with a short walk on a dirt/gravel road and then across a dry rocky riverbed.
The trail doesn’t waste anytime going up on some steep switchbacks. We kept up our spirits and kept going because it was going to be a long day.
After a short while we reached the San Gorgornio Wilderness sign leading us into the wilderness.
Down low there was more vegetation and tree cover making it a great temp in the morning
We stopped a couple of miles into the hike at this marker to drop some extra water – no sense in carrying it all the way up the mountain. Yes, we put it by the marker because 6 hours from now we totally could forget where we hid it 🙂
The more we climbed the more rocks we saw around the trail and less forest. The air was clear and we were feeling good.
Where Sara is pointing is the top. At this point it is like a moonscape with pretty much all rock. The trail leads around the left side of the peak as you can see. We thought at this point we were really close but it is much further than it looks.
The top was a large pile of rocks. There was a whole group of hikers up there hanging out and getting some food in. We took some pics and fueled up in the beautiful sun. We knew we had a long hike down so we made our way quickly.
On the way down there were some amazing views of the valley below and some of the other peaks.
The hike took 8 hours and covered 18 miles and over 5,000 feet of elevation. A very challenging hike on a beautiful day. So lucky to spend this time in the wilderness with my best friend.
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