First time at Cucamonga Peak (5th of my #sixpackofpeaks )and Etiwanda Peak! Took me about 11.5 hours including breaks because I went slow and let about 30-40 people pass me on the Icehouse section alone, but so worth it! Both peaks have good views but unfortunately I made it to Etiwanda Peak at 2:57pm, and I had a self imposed deadline of 3pm to go back.

I recommend trekking poles, I slipped on loose gravel and bent my trekking pole but better a bent pole than falling down.

If you are afraid of heights then I would not recommend this trail as there are steep drop offs. However I did Baldy via Devil’s Backbone recently and Cucamonga didn’t feel as bad in terms of exposure to drop offs.

The trail is pretty well defined and not overly tough. If you find it all of a sudden getting really hard or feel like you are walking on sand (which happened to me a few times) then you are likely off-route. I strongly recommend Alltrails or similar that has offline maps to track and alert you when you are off route, but the pro version is required for these features.

I saw 30-40 people on the Icehouse section going up, and about a dozen or so people on the Cucamonga section, which was roughly the same amount of people I saw on the Ontario Peak section when I did it a few weeks ago. I had Cucamonga Peak to myself for a few minutes before a group of two arrived.
The portion to Etiwanda Peak was great! It was more of an alpine feel and mostly shaded. What’s great was I didn’t see a soul the whole time.

I brought 5L water and drank most of it. I would also recommend beginning as early if possible to avoid the heat.

I did Ontario Peak a few weeks ago which was great as well, but Icehouse really did a number on my knees and back, even though I used trekking poles. This time I ended up spending $5 for Dr. Scholl’s insole and put it under the insole on my Brooks Caldera shoes which are already max cushioning, for super cushioning and used this for Icehouse trailhead to saddle. I removed the extra insole after the saddle for more stability, and used it again on the way down. My knees and back feel much better after the hike.