I woke up early (sort of on accident) on Saturday and decided to toss my things into my Jeep (with a bad wheel bearing, as it turns out) and drive out to Ice House Canyon. I'm the guy who went on a Wednesday and then alerted the world (again) to the trail closure up there (closed M-F until early October), so I was eager to check one or more of these neighboring peaks off my list.

The parking lot was very full, so I parked just down the road and headed out with ~3L of water. Temps were great at 7:30am, and I made quick work of the trail up to the Ice House Saddle, passing many dayhikers along the way, and arriving at 9:10am. I stopped for a snack on the saddle and overheard a few fellows who mentioned they were training for the JMT. Me too, probably! After about 10 min and an application of sunscreen, I headed on.

I reached the summit of Cucamonga around 11:30am, and spent about 20 minutes. A family of 3 offered to take my photo and I accepted. I headed back down and met some recent acquaintances along the way, and offered them my encouragement. Found a feather and stuck it in my hat.

When I approached the Cucamonga saddle again, I noticed a few hikers I'd met on my way up were using a steep cutoff up to Bighorn, so I followed. The first .25mi was wild, but the grade became a bit more tolerable about halfway to the summit. I caught up with the two hikers and learned one was doing the “OG” six pack. They took my photo and headed back to their car. I had other plans: Ontario. (pt. 2…)