San G – On Top of SoCal: A Tale of Perseverance and Hunger

Mt. San Gorgonio – highest point in Southern California. I’ve dreamt of this moment. What an amazing day. The scenery transforms every mile, from the rocky creek to a glowing meadow, up through the pines, and then above the treeline. Just perfection. The difficulty of San G was really hyped up, but I made it to the top fairly easily. HOWEVER haha… the real difficulty, in my opinion, is the mental part because it is quite long and when you’re descending, you just want to be done with it. 2 miles from the bottom, I was out of fuel. But that was entirely my fault – I forgot my lunch in my fridge. And I’m so picky, I didn’t really eat much of the PB&J given to me by a friend at the top because I can’t stand the J part. So I was desperate to get a nice veggie burger and fries after the 20 miles eating granola bars, Mamba fruit chews, and trail mix only. But besides that dumb oversight by yours truly, San Gorgonio was dreamy. The weather was amazing, there were people from all over the world on the trail, and the beautiful views were endless.

Before taking on this trail, I read a whole book on the history of San Gorgonio aka Ol’ Greyback, so that was a nice precursor to the hike. I had a lot of time to take in the mountain since, despite being very popular, the summit is huge and offers a lot of solitude if one requires it. So I sat within a little campsite and just got all dreamy. I thought about how difficult life was and how I was glad I held on and kept trekking, or else I might never have made it to that very spot at that very moment. I guess that’s the point of it all. Reaching a place that seems near impossible, fighting through the pain, taking one step and then another, even when you feel like giving up. San Gorgonio and the panoramic views from the top inspire me to keep moving. So, I will. (But I will always remember to grab my lunch)

Anyway, to be fair – this isn’t easy by any means. None of it is. I just felt like it was much easier to reach the top than what people had warned me about. I think a lot of that was excitement, determination, living at 6,000 ft (let’s be fair, I have that advantage), frequently hiking steep inclines, and also, the trail is so long that it spreads out that elevation gain. Just pace yourself and know that it’s going to be a long one. But afterwards, the feeling of accomplishment is like no other. I love you, San G <3

11,503 feet / 20.6 miles / 5,501 feet elev gain / day hike