San Grogonio

Got to the the South Fork parking lot at 430am. I stretched, geared up and  began hiking a bit after 5am. It was still dark and very cold… With just my headlamp I had trouble finding the trail once I crossed the road. I used my map and found a trail but it seemed the trail had damage from slides. I scrambled through bushes until I found the well established trail ( on my return I found out that the beginning of trail was much easier, I just had to cross the creek ). Once I got to the horsemedows, where there was a small cabin, sunlight began to peak through.  After a few hours the sun came out and it began to get warm, I ended up taking off some layers. I decided to go up through Dry Lake. I didn’t see anyone until I took a break at Dollar Lake Saddle and hiker and his dog caught up to me. I continued on. I reached the peak around 12 or 1pm. It was a tough hike but the views were well worth it. The sky was clear and I was able to see Big Bear Lake, San Jacinto and even the Salton Sea. It was spectacular. At the peak I saw several people that summited from Vivian Creek. After a snack and chatting with a couple of hikers I decided to go back down. In my return I took the trail that goes by Dry Lake. I passed the military C-47 airplane crash site.  I continued on and began seeing the summit I had just decent from. I got to Dry Lake and there was  a lot of water, some of which was frozen.  After a while I got to a creek where I had to cross a few times. I met up with the trail I took to go up around 4pm. At 430pm the sun came down and I had couple of miles to go. I put on my head lamp and hiked for about an hour and a half in the dark. I reached my car around 614pm. It was a beautiful and amazing hike. I will never forget it.