San Bernardino East Peak via Momyer Creek Trail
4.0 mi
Distance
1 hrs 53 min
Time
terrain
3,201 ft
Elev Gain
Overview
This is a difficult one way trail in San Gorgonio Wilderness.
This trail goes by San Bernardino East Peak.
Rate this Hike
★★★★★
Hiked Friday 06/09/2023 solo – Shields-Alto Diablo-Anderson peaks from Momyer Creek Trailhead. Wow! Very scenic, beautiful trail up to the SB Trail with great views the whole way. While the Buckthorn and Manzanita are dense in some stretches, it’s passable in pants and isn’t mile after mile. That said - thanks to everyone currently trimming it – very much appreciated. The sun cupped snowfields topside gave me more grief. There is still a lot of snow on the ridgeline here-more than the Charlton-Jepson-SG ridge line. Boots only to top ridge and then crampons for direct ascents. Decided to traverse the north slopes back from Alto Diablo as it was easier than going through the softening sun cupped snow (2 ft cup depth). The weather was great and the bugs took advantage of it but didn’t need my mosquito net, just repellent. Lots of Grape Soda Lupine and Whitethorn in full bloom right now. Had a hard time finding a place to cross the Mill Creek torrent in the evening but found a bridge downstream (34.090320N, 116.920135W) made of a dozen 4 inch logs to which I added a few more. Shields and Anderson Flats now have some dry ground to camp on. Logged 20.5 miles/6147 vertical ft. with Gaia
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Beware of possible mountain lions and trail conditions! We diverted down this route yesterday after trail (lack of) and snow conditions along the ridge stopped us from descending down to foresee creek via Anderson peak from San Bernardino mountain.
Unfortunately we got to the summit late which meant we were forced to go down this section in the dark. For the most part the trail is in better condition than the other side of the mountain, however it is extremely overgrown and some times challenging to find the trail..
However what we were not prepared for was the multiple possible mountain lion sightings. In our headlamps we came head to head with a very large animal with big eyes and moved like a cat, which we’re pretty sure was a mountain lion. Not long after we saw another smaller one cross the trail which was possibly a cub or bob cat. And finally further down the trail we saw another two large ones, which looked like mountain lions. They watched us then ran away after we made ourselves very loud and big. Please be careful!
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