Cucamonga Peak

I have a new favorite number... and it's 8859... cause that was how high I was when I finished Cucamonga Peak!

We started on Saturday morning at 6 am at the trail head and made our way up the mountain. I was rocking just under 30 lbs for our overnight adventure with food and water. My training paid off and I enjoyed the hike to the summit. 

We took ample breaks because my short legs can only go so far, so fast, but i've seen a lot of improvement in my stamina and strength since I started planning for this back in January. We decided to skip Ontario Peak because it was actually a 6 mile add on, and instead Keith back tracked 1/2 a mile to get more water since we weren't heading to Ontario. 

We had 1st lunch at the saddle and then ventured to the peak. I carried the extra water in exchange for him going to get it from the river/stream. The trail was clear of snow except for 2 small stretches and the views at the top were spectacular.

We planned to hike overnight from the start (that was the whole purpose of the trip, my first overnight hike)... however we found ourselves re-thinking that plan when we heard the weather unfortunately was going sour. The storm in the forecast for mid-day Sunday, moved in Saturday evening. We were prepared for cold temperatures and expected, at worst, a sprinkling of snow on Sunday.... instead rain started soon and we knew the temperatures would drop down into the 20's and it was clear we would get much more snow then we expected. 

We contemplated breaking camp and heading back down to the saddle, but I made the decision that we should stay. It was a hard decision to make, knowing that Keith was anxious to stay, but 5 other tents were with us at the peak and we were set up and dry. Keith was also not in the state to completely get off the mountain that night. The weight of his pack was much heavier than mine and it wasn't carrying well. If we broke camp, we would likely get wet in the coming rain, and our gear would get wet... and then we would have to rely on wet gear to keep us warm for the night at the saddle, and we may have had to hike in the rain, downhill, in the dark....

So we camped... we prayed... told the other campers we were heading down at first light, and tried to get some sleep on the totally not flat camp slot we set up to help block the wind. I'm not going to lie... 

There was some panic when it was still snowing at 3 am and too dark to see really what we were getting into... but then the snow stopped at 4:00 am... and we were able to confirm again that we weren't alone on the peak. Others were camped still. 

To calm down, we told ourselves we could always go down in a group if we wanted to wait longer.

We had 3-5 inches outside of out tent. Knowing by 5:30 it would be light out, we began to slowly break camp... re-packing our bags and gear in dry sacks and adding layers for warmth. We still had our emergency back up gear we didn't need to use in the night for warm, and we waterproofed ourselves the best we could to manage any more snow fall that may happen going down the mountain.

It was clear at 5:30 am, that everyone else was still snoozing in their tents, and we could be ready to go only needing to break down our tent. Early snow is better to cross than late day snow and I didn't want to wait an hour or two for the others to wake up and then strike. I said a prayer to myself and told keith with confidence we were heading down now... and he followed my lead.

The trail was covered in snow... and mostly missing. 

We pulled up the GPS map we downloaded, found our dot and headed off in the direction of the trail. Before leaving I used Snow "texting" to write in the snow "left at 6 am" so the other campers would know we kept our plan. We set our ground rules that we would stick to for safety. I would carve out time markers in the snow when we passed certain sections, so the campers behind us would know where we went and when we passed by when they descended. We would also re-check the trail GPS map, to make sure we were on trail and not on some random patch of dirt and snow every 10-15 minutes, or at a switchback. We both had to agree before making a turn that we thought the trail was the trail and that we confirmed it with the map. The others would likely follow our footsteps, so we didn't want to lead them the wrong way either.

After 30 minutes decent, our fears were behind us. We have experience snow hiking, and we were smart in our preparations. We slept with water and our filter in our sleeping bags so we had supplies that did not freeze overnight... we had dry clean clothes to hike in.... and enough base layers to keep warm... We began to enjoy the trail again and made our decent. (we even scored some trail names).

At the saddle, the wind turned and the snow was not only on the ground, but sleeting in sections. This confirmed my choice in camping on top of the mountain, because we wouldn't have escaped the snow if we broke camp and camped there.

As we descended, we told other hikers attempting to do the trail the current conditions, how many people were ahead of them, and how many people camped at the peak. All were grateful for our steps that would mark the trail, and to know when to turn around if they felt it was sketchy.

First overnight trip is in the bag!