Sometimes the trail just doesn’t want to be filmed, at least that’s what I kept telling myself on the ascent, as I concentrated on inhaling enough oxygen to take the next step, and then the next, and the next, and…you get it, it’s the highest peak in Southern California, so lots of steps. Now, I could’ve made up for it on the way down, video-wise, but I didn’t because I was too busy chatting away with a fellow hiker, which helped ‘shorten’ the trek, as well as keep the surroundings safe from my nosy image hunting. There’s always next time.
Tag: San Bernardinos
Bad planning, road closures and curiosity landed me at the Forsee trailhead, late but just in time to set off for John’s meadow to the sound of nearby gunfire, followed by the roar of children from the summer camp just north of the trail. After that, along the way, I found nothing but peace, beauty, a polite pack of campers and quiet, untarnished summer mountain splendor.
Summer meadow blooms
red, yellow, white, blue
windswept voices, children, guns
It’s actually a coincidence that the adjective ‘alpine’ contains the word ‘pine’. But I’m fine with it, as it occupied my mind for long stretches of this strenuous ascent to East San Bernardino peak, an epic ramble on the front range of the San Bernardinos that checked a number of ‘firsts’ for me. First hike this year with over five thousand feet of elevation, first time ‘bagging’ this particular summit, first time ever driving into an empty parking lot at the trailhead in the morning, and returning to an empty parking lot in the late afternoon, having been completely alone all day, and finally, first time having to poop on trail.
Yep. It’s a fact, not a big deal, just a fact. In twenty plus years of regularly spending entire days on trail, I have never been faced with the ‘need to go’ and ‘no place to go’ dilemma. Not that I have anything against scooting behind a manzanita bush to dig a hole and drop my business in it, but given the choice, I’d rather sit to shit, even in the dubious comfort of a port-a-potty. And I hope, as a matter of public sanitation, that most day hikers feel the way I do. Imagine what would happen to popular trails like the Mt Baldy ski hut, or Vivian Creek, or the old Mt Wilson trail if every other visitor defecated trailside. I think I know what that would look like. I’ve seen it. There’s a spot in our backyard, in Altadena, on a use trail that connects Rubio canyon to the heavily trafficked lower Sam Merrill trail where people have been relieving themselves for years, leaving plenty of traces. On a bad day, it’s like walking next to the exposed inside of a port-a-potty tank; dodging clumps of used toilet paper sticking to mounds of bowel movements.
“Pack it in. Pack it out.” I say. Meaning, hold it. Or, if like me, you’re seven miles from the trailhead, at ten thousand feet and that no longer is an option, dig a hole and cover it up when you’re done, and carry an extra baggie to haul out your paper. The next hiker who doesn’t have to sidestep around your stuff is thanking you already.
Now, back to gazing at majestically twisted limber pines who spend their entire existence with a priceless view of Old Greyback towering over the San Gorgonio wilderness.
Walking Project 131_al-pine ramble – east san bernardino from chris worland on Vimeo.
During this ‘pleasant ramble in the woods’ (that’s what I wrote in the summit log I found in the army surplus ammunition box bolted to a small boulder on Anderson Peak), I saw exactly two other humans. They were standing a few yards off the trail, with lots of gear at their feet, waving as I walked by, less than an hour into what I estimated would be an eight hour excursion, multiple breaks and the obligatory nap included. Five hours and change later, I ran into them again.
–Short story “Burned Area” to be inserted here.
Walking Project 040_fall- yellow – Anderson Peak from chris worland on Vimeo.
Rambling by old pines
monumental verticals
spines of open books
I took the Vivian Creek trail to reach Old Greyback, Mt San Gorgonio, the highest summit in Southern California.
Walking Project 022_upleftrightdown – Mt San Gorgonio from chris worland on Vimeo.
A common feature of any walk in the local mountains (San Gabriels, San Bernardino, San Jacinto), if it involves a fair amount of elevation gain, is the changing landscape. You may start by walking through lush, shaded oak, alder and sycamore canyons, then traverse the chaparral, dominated by manzanita, continuing through pine forest and finally reaching summits populated by gnarly, weather beaten limber pines stubbornly clinging to the rocky terrain.
Like chord changes in a tune these transitions are merely a loose structure that nature gladly improvises on, giving each walk its own flavor, its own colors, its own mood.
Here’s an unexpected transition: Check out the changes in this Frank Zappa song, entitled, not so coincidentally, “San Ber’dino”.
The guide I used for this hike.
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