Vivian Creek to San Gorgonio Summit

Hiking date: July 21, 2016

Location: San Gorgonio wilderness, CA

Difficultly: Hard

Distance: 17.8 miles

Hours hiked: 12

Goal: To reach San Gorgonio mountain 

via Vivian Creek in one day

Goal completed: Yes 

This hike was the longest and biggest hike that I have ever done in my entire life. Also, I hiked at a higher altitude than I have ever been at. What more? We also completed our biggest summit ever, the biggest one in southern California. Here is a list of summits we have hiked:

Pisca Peak (via Wildwood) 3000'

Zanja Peak (via Crafton Hills) 3000'

Murray Hill (via Clara Burgess and Wild Horse trails) 2000'

San Gorgonio Mountain (via Vivian Creek) 11,000'

I rounded the heights to the closest thousand and saw that San Gorgonio mountain was still the highest in Southern California.  Murray Hill, Pisca Peak, and all the other small peaks are just tall peaks of their little ranges. San Gorgonio, on the other hand, towers above San Jacinto peak, Mt. Baldy, Torro Peak, and everything else in southern California. 

For this hike, we had to leave at about 5:00am. We left the house and drove to the Mill Creek Ranger Station and got in the car with Papa. We drove up to Forest Falls and were on the trail at about 6:00am. We started hiking up the road leading to the riverbed, beginning our long journey. Before we got to the summit, we had to hike 8.9 miles of trail, passing 3 camps, Vivian Camp at 1.2 miles, Halfway camp at 2.1 miles. and High camp at 4.8 miles. 

10 minutes later, we crossed the empty riverbed.

Crossing the riverbed, we had to be careful of flash floods ;)

 Then we started one of the hardest parts of the trail, a whole mile of switchbacks.

Soon after, the trail leveled out at the mile marker.

A resting log next to the mile marker. 

After the mile marker, we went through a beautiful forest of conifer pines, bushes, and more. A little ways before Halfway Camp we went through some beautiful bushes.

When we got to Halfway Camp, it wasn't even 8:15 yet, we were booking it!

The junction leading to Halfway camp and the trail leading to High Camp.
For our snacks, we love Ritz with peanut butter. It's become our go to snack.

From Halfway camp, we hiked up two sets of switchbacks, rounded a bend, and hiked down to High Camp.

Beyond High Camp it was another three hours until we would get to the summit, and it would be hard. For a lot of the time, we would be above 10,000', which was in the zone where you could get altitude sickness. But we would get good views of the San Jacinto mountains and the Yucaipa Ridge down below. We stopped at High Creek to soak a stiff towel in the water. It was passed around our necks to cool us

After High Camp, we hiked up several switchbacks to lookout point where the San Jacinto mountains and the desert came into the view 

After that, we started crossing a C shape across the ridge. It was hard!

Then, we came out of the bend and we saw the summit about five minutes away. So slowly, we climbed on top of the summit. We were rewarded with views, cell reception, ham sandwiches, and the sense of satisfaction of being at the top of everything in Southern California. The summit was windy and cold. The big thing was chipmunks, they were EVERYWHERE on the summit, crawling around and eating Pita chips Papa threw on the ground for them. They were cool to have around. We could see for miles, the Mohave desert, Big Bear Lake, and more. But we were only halfway, because we had to go down!!

San Goronigo Mountain

Gear update

Over the past 1 1/2 years, we have improved a LOT on gear. 

Here is a picture that was token back in February, 2015. We were hiking Cactus to Clouds for the second time and Papa hadn't even joined the Hardhikers club yet. In fact, we hadn't even really started our hiking routine yet. I had no Camelbak, no altimeter, no first aid kit, no whistle, no anything.

This photo was taken back in July, 2015. I had my Camelbak, a cheap altimeter, a hiking hat, and good hiking shoes.

Here I am on the Vivian Creek trail (to Halfway Camp), back in April, 2016. I had all the gear I currently have now

Just recently, we have taken a huge Milestone in hiking. We are getting new hiking backpacks!!! My grandparents got it for me for my birthday.

Here is the size of a backpack I have currently:

Here is the backpack I am going to get:

When I post my next post, I will be wearing the backpack. see you then!

   

Two days in the Yosemite National Park

You are probably wondering why we went two days to Yosemite National Park.  On one of the days we were on vacation we were wondering what to do (we stayed at Bass Lake for four nights). So why not go again! People come from all over the world to just look here once. We got to go two times in three days since it was only an hour and a half away from us!!!

We hiked two hikes that were both waterfall hikes, here they are:

1. Lower Yosemite Fall

Hiking date: July 25, 2016

Location: Yosemite Valley, CA

Difficulty: easy

Distance: one mile

Minutes hiked: 30 minutes

When we entered Yosemite, we could see a lot . Here is the stats of the trip.

Olivia age 3, Daniel age 6, Mia age 8, me age 9, and Kendall age 7.
(left to right)  

Aua, Jeremy Elkins and mom and dad 

It was crowded when we got there, which proves it is just an easy walk. But it was the biggest waterfall in the U.S, so were ready for that. We also went exploring through a bunch of rocks.

3 minutes later, we got to the waterfall. We saw people climbing up close to the waterfall. so we left the crowds behind and climbed. Only when we got back did we realize that we weren't allowed to climb around.

Almost there!

Then we started the 8 minute trek down the road.

Here is a quick video so you can see what the walk is like. It wiped us out!

Hike two: Bridalveil Fall 

Hiking date: July 27, 2016

Location: Yosemite Valley, CA

Difficulty: easy

Distance: 0.5 easy way, 4.2 longer way

Minutes hiked: 30 minutes easy way, 45 longer way

Bridalveil Fall is a lot like Yosemite Fall, only shorter 

Bridalveil   Fall 

Daniel wanted to hike to the "El Capitan Bridge"

El Capitan  

At one point, we left the main attraction and moved on to a real trail. Since Daniel really wanted to hike the bridge, we split up. The girls left, leaving Daniel, Mr. Jeremy, my dad, and obviously me. We didn't run into anything for a long time until we reached a junction that led to different places like campgrounds and Half Dome. When we got back, we were rewarded with a cool car and the Merced river to swim in. 

The week was a sucuss! Aside with being carsick while driving, the trip, I say, was a 10!