10/3/21:  My 1st time up to Cucamonga Peak.

I was coming from a concert in Vegas, which ended at around 11pm.  I realized I hadn’t eaten since around 2pm so we picked up a couple pizzas on the way to my brother’s.  I ate, washed up, then hit the road back towards LA.  My husband drove and, at first, I wasn’t tired so I stayed up.  At some point I conched out and woke back up around 3:30am.  I think I got a couple hours, which I probably needed.

Met up with my hiking buddy at 5:30am in a Vons parking lot.  I said goodbye to my dog and husband who continued on home.  By the time weAll was happening according to plan.  By the time we got to the icehouse canyon trailhead, it was 6am. The parking lot was about half full.  We started our hike, under the cover of darkness except for our headlamps, a flashlight, and a small sliver of crescent moon shining clearly overhead.  All was happening according to plan.

We veered off icehouse and took Chapman trail at the fork.  The ground was pretty rocky and uneven, which gave me the sense we were really hiking.  Lol.

We lucked out with the weather — sunny but not too hot or cold with breezes throughout.  We came across a good number of hikers and a handful of campers but it wasn’t crowded by any stretch of the imagination.  We spent a little time at the saddle to eat and again at the peak to take pics.  The views were amazing on account of the sunny and clear conditions.  There was even a little bit of “fall” foliage sprinkled throughout.

On the return, we quickened the pace and took the slightly shorter icehouse canyon trail back, in order to meet our target end time of 2pm.  I think we got back to the parking lot at 2:09.  Not too bad.  In total, I believe we did about 14 miles!  My buddy and I needed this hike to get physically and mentally prepared for Gorgonio the following week.  Bonus was seeing Gorgonio from cucamonga peak.  It felt like it was calling to us and we were hearing the signal, loud and clear.