Adam and I were up at 5:30a at the
2WD trailhead for Morton and Cram, two LPC
peaks
in the San Bernadino foothills. Adam's shin splint had not gotten much better
with the night's rest and he found himself painfully hobbling about outside his
car in the dark,
trying to walk on it. He wisely decided the better course of action would
be to rest it and promptly went back to sleep for a bit more. Later he would
get up and drive back home to Sacramento. I would be on my own for the last
two days.
While I was eating breakfast and getting ready,
a pickup truck pulled off the pavement
and drove on up the road. Though not in terrible shape, the road was not good
enough to drive my van up in that fashion,
so I'd have to hoof it from the bottom. Not
all that bad, as it's only three miles to the first summit. I think it might
actually be less than that, as I made it to the summit in less than an hour,
arriving just as the sun was rising in the east. There was a couple
breakfasting
at the picnic bench just below the lookout tower when I arrived. They were
undoubtedly the occupants of the truck I had seen start up the road, parking
about half way up at
the locked gate. I walked up to the tower but could see
that the latch to the observation deck was locked, so I didn't bother to climb
the stairs. I found a 
reference mark,
but did not find the benchmark that it points to, nor any sign of a register.
I gave a brief hello to the couple dining there, took some pictures
of the 
surrounding hills and the 
LA Basin,
then headed back down.
Cram Peak, about 500ft lower and 
to the west,
was located in the middle of a
long, 4 mile ridge rising up from Redlands at the west end, culminating at
Morton Peak at the east end. I looked down the connecting ridge heading north
off of Morton, but could not make out a use trail or anything resembling one
leading down that way. A topo map would have made the situation clear, but I
had only the written LPC directions. A more careful reading suggested I should
be looking for an old 4x4 Rd. I eventually found this a little ways further
down from the summit, a fork in the road that starts off heading northeast
before curving around a highpoint to follow the ridgeline a little ways below,
on the shady north side. The old road was particularly overgrown on the wetter
north side,
but once it moved over to the 
south side of the ridge at a saddle
it was easier to follow on the more open slope. The LPC directions were good,
cautioning against going too far to
the last bump on the ridge before it starts
dropping down to the city. One follows the trail around to the west side of
Cram, then follows an unmarked use trail branching off for the short distance
to the summit.
A rusted steel post with a triangle marks
the summit. I found 
the register
cans at the base of this. It did not date back more than a few years. By now it
was 8a, only an hour past sunrise but already the evening fog had been
transformed into the brownish 
daytime haze over 
the basin.
I returned via the same route, taking about an hour and a half to
reach the van.
Driving back down SR38, I made my way through Mentone and Redlands, then north
to SR330. There is a good view of
Harrison Mtn from the lowlands, a stiff climb
if done from the south, but the standard LPC route from the north would be much
easier. 
Starting off shortly before 10:15a, my first attempt to
find the use
trail did not go well. I tried to head to the described subsidiarly peak too
directly and ended wandering about in 
the dirt
and brush for three or four
minutes, getting nowhere. I went back to the start and noticed an
information kiosk away from
the road to the south, which turned out to be the key. There is a gap in the
fence immediately behind it where a use trail can be found
heading west. This trail passes by some 
discarded sleds
before heading into some thickets. 
Flagging
in the area may be helpful - I didn't notice it until I was already passed it,
but if you know where to head to (the local highpoint to the west) then you
will eventually land on the use trail that gets better the further you go along
it. The initial part up the slope was 
steep and rutted,
but gets you through what would otherwise be inpenetrable chaparral.
From atop that first local highpoint you can
look back on the parking lot and also get the 
first view
of the summit from this side. The 
use trail improves
and there was much evidence of recent grooming through the heaviest stuff on
the north facing slopes that the trail traverses. There is also a fine view of
McKinley Mtn 
to the west from here.
There was no issue with route-finding as
I simply followed the only plausible route to the summit. It took just under an
hour to reach the top where I found the HPS register under a
small pile of
rocks, not quite cohesive enough to call a cairn.
Though hazy over the metropolis, it was still a good viewspot. One can see the
higher peaks of San Gorgonio to
the east, Mt. Baldy and environs to 
the west. I
did not walk the additional 1/4 -1/2 mile 
south
for the better view of 
the LA Basin
due to the obscuring haze. I went back via the same route, taking about
35 minutes with some jogging on the safer portions of the trail.
It took only 15 minutes to drive back down SR330 to the
starting point for
McKinley Mtn off the west side of the highway. There are several possible
starting ridgelines and the LPC directions did not help me decisively. But I
could see what looked like an open, 
grassy section
along one ridge that looked
to have been a firebreak at one time, and it in this direction I started off. I
must have picked the correct ridge, because the rest all fell into place in
matching the printed description I carried with me.
The ridge rose steeply with a use trail running up the center where
a firebreak
at one time was bulldozed through the brush. This led to a short stretch of
road
cut into the side of the mountain. I followed this to the left, then up
the 
adjoining ridge
where the road ended. An hour after starting out I had
reached the lower south summit marked by a duck
atop a large boulder. I was
initially confused because I could look across and see an obviously higher
summit another half mile to the west, which I mistook for McKinley. Not so, I
surmised, once I carefully read the description. Turns out this other point is
both higher and unnamed, but for some reason a lower point was given the name
of McKinley Mtn. I found the 
steel post
marking the summit of McKinley a short
distance north of the initial summit, but
passed by the small cairn off to the side that held the register without seeing
it. I was far less interested in McKinley all of a sudden and wondered if I
could get to the higher point, now to the southwest.
I could, and it only took about 15 minutes to do so. Though the use trail had
ended, a few others had made the trek in the past and the bushwhacking up to
Peak 3,808ft was not as bad as I would have guessed for a north-facing slope.
The top was quite flat and moderately brushy, the highpoint impossible to
discern within about 20-30yds. I found two 
rock cairns
in my wandering about, with a register found at 
the second pile
marked with a stake. 
The book was
weatherbeaten but still serviceable. I signed in and returned to McKinley Mtn
where I found 
the register
I had missed on the first pass. I signed this one
as well, then headed back via the same route. It took less than 30 minutes
by jogging most of the way back.
Now 2p, I had one more peak on my agenda, the last LPC peak in the San
Bernardino Mtns, Arrowhead Peak. I got a view of the peak on my drive through
the city of San Bernardino. Sure enough, it has the likeness of a highly
geometric arrowhead on the
south-facing slope that one would swear was manmade.
That there is a commercial enterprise selling bottled water at the base of this
peak by the same name adds to my skepticism. In any case, it appears to be an
aptly named summit. The LPC route describes an approach from the north, so I
drove up SR18 to the overlook on that side. The 
starting point
is actually
higher than the summit of Arrowhead, a most unusual condition. There were
several 
hang gliders
cruising overhead as I got ready to head out. That would
have been a much easier way to reach the summit, followed by a second glide
down to the city below.
It has been some time since any maintenance has been done on this route, and
though it was less than two miles each way, this would be the toughest hike of
the day. The route follows an old jeep trail that is still shown on the 7.5'
topo, but little of it remains. 
The road is
heavily overgrown with buckthorn
that had me on my knees in a few places and wearing gloves for much of the
time. This was not a route to be rushed. The buckthorn is not as bad as most
cacti, the needle-like points are attached to softer branches that bend and give
as one encounters them. Dead buckthorn is another story, as once the detached
plant dries up it is hard as wood. I found this out the hard way by stepping on
such a piece that pierced the bottom of my bootsole and about a quarter inch
into my foot as well. The pain was terrific and after unlacing my boot I
discovered I couldn't take my foot out until I had removed the thorn from
bottom of the boot. New respect for buckthorn! Once down to
a first saddle, I found the trail again 
through some trees
on the west side of the ridgeline, then
another 25 minutes or so to 
the second saddle
just north of the summit. Here
the original jeep trail is abandoned (it goes around the NW side of the peak
and is grossly overgrown) in favor of an old firebreak directly up the north
side.
The 
final hundred yards
to the summit is not trivial either and my initial
effort at a direct assault from the north was rebuffed. I then moved around to
the west and south sides before backtracking and finding my way up from
the west. I had missed
some flagging that seemed to indicate a good route
choice. I found 
a benchmark
among some rocks in the center of the summit area,
but 
the register was at the higher rocky point just
to the west. It dated 
to 2002,
and seemed the best one all day worth signing one's name to. This lower
summit was harder than 90% of the peaks on the HPS list, to be sure.
When the buckthorn had first appeared at the start I had worried about
getting back before dark - I didn't relish the idea of bushwhacking through the
stuff by headlamp. Timing was on my side, however, and thanks to the jogging I
had done on the earlier peaks, I managed to get back to the van only minutes
before sunset. There was a fine 
orange sunset
through the afternoon haze around
4:45p, the air growing noticeably cooler by the minute at 5,000ft.
I spent the night in one of my quiet hideouts off Mountain Rd, just above San Antonio Dam. I heated some soup for dinner in the van while I watched the rest of the DVD movie I had brought with me. A heavy fog had rolled in early, enveloping the area in a thick, damp blanket. The good weather I had enjoyed for the last week was looking to run out. Hopefully no rain would develop for the last day of the road trip...
Continued...