Did Someone Say Arrive Early to Find Parking?

8/16 Cucamonga Peak via IHC, 12.35 miles, 4,184 feet in elevation gain

Well, I decided on Thursday, August 14th to hike Cucamonga Peak from Icehouse Saddle on Saturday the 16th. On Friday, my friend Cheryl Lynn calls and asks what kind of hikes I had planned and if she could join in on a few, as she prepares to head to Colorado for a few epic hikes. Of course, I’m always down to having friends join in on my hikes. So, Cheryl and I met at 0415 in Santa Ana and carpooled to the Icehouse Canyon parking lot arriving right around 0515 to a parking lot that was almost full. Keep in mind that this lot easily fits 50 to 60 vehicles.

Anyway, we prepped our gear and stepped off right around 5:40am. We were amazed early on (first few miles) that with the number of cars in the lot; we didn’t see any other hikers on trail. As we neared Icehouse Saddle (about 3.4 miles up) that changed. We passed a few hikers and were passed by a few others. There were maybe 10 other hikers at the saddle when we arrived. We took a short break there and then pushed on to the summit.

We had what felt like an easy pace and trek to the summit. Arriving there in just about 3 hours and gaining just over 4,000 feet in elevation over 6.2 miles. Along the way we had the pleasure of running into a few friends (Belinda Giudice and Eric Demopoulos) as they were coming down from their sunrise summit. The views were, as always, awesome! Clear skies above and low clouds below. Temperatures at the summit were right around the mid-50’s with zero wind.

We had a few snacks and rested for a few minutes. After that we took our summit photos and spent a few minutes chatting with other hikers. By then about 20 other hikes had arrived at the summit, so we packed up and headed down. On our descent we passed by several other hikers heading up to the summit. Temperatures were warming a bit as we descended to the lower elevations. Most likely getting up to about the mid-70’s. It didn’t feel too hot, but the shady areas were welcome.

We arrived back to the parking lot around 12:30. Of course, I forgot to put up my Access pass, so guess who received a hefty $5 parking fine? The parking lot was still full, with several cars driving around looking for a place to park so that they wouldn’t have to drive down the hill and hike back up.