Ontario Peak 2022 – Solo Hike

Cucamonga | Ontario Twofer 2022 – Part 2

See Part 1 for map & track info.

June 19, 2022

[…continued… enjoying a second breakfast breather at the Icehouse saddle] I made my way up to Ontario and decided to skip the Bighorn side summit. By the time I got to the Bighorn/Ontario T junction (at the ridge line), it was getting hot and I was starting to fade a little. The overall distance for this twofer clocks in at ~16.25 miles with ~5400ft of elevation gain – still plenty for today! I had also planned on hiking Baldy the next day and wanted to save my energy.  I particularly enjoyed the part of the trail after the T junction where you get unobstructed views of Baldy on the one side, and of the city in the valley on the other.  The summit was pretty busy with Sunday hiking parties enjoying the scenery and having their lunch there. I was ready to make my way back to the TH and over to the Manker Flat campground for the night.

Bear stories – the Mount Baldy hike that wasn't

I had no trouble finding a good spot at the Manker Flat campground. I was a little worried that there wouldn't be any spots left for the long the week-end but that wasn't an issue at all. There were a few families getting their grills ready, enjoying their Sunday there since it's also a designated day-use area.  It was only about 6pm by the time I finished setting up.  After a full day of hiking and a long drive up on little sleep, I was ready to call it a day and to turn in early after a quick dinner. As I was packing up for the evening, I heard people shouting from the other end of the campground as they were pointing in my direction. I turned around and, to my surprise, saw a pretty cinnamon black bear moseying down the hill on his way to check out the campground! (likely enticed by the aroma of bbq that filled the area.)  Dinner was served.

I started making some noise and banging on a metal thermos to encourage him to skip my camping spot and most importantly my backpacking tent that was already setup.  He was not aggressive and seemed uninterested in my setup – he just circled around my area and headed down towards where the day-use families were. A mad dash ensured on their end to pack up their dinner spread and all their belongings while he was still at a safe distance.

He eventually lost interest and left the area but not after destroying a giant 5-6p tent that was left unattended in a remote location at the edge of the campground.  It had supplies stored in it that he just couldn't be dissuaded from checking out.  I was more than ready for bed by then, but concerned that the bear would come back after dark.  It is his land after all and this heavily used area makes it hard for him to resist checking things out.

As a form of prevention, I had made sure that there was nothing visible in my car for the bear to get curious about, including water bottles, etc. I usually don't keep food or smellable items (toiletries, etc) in my backpacking tent either.  The car had also been vacuumed out and I had put all of my food and toiletries in the bear can I always have with me even for car camping. But… I ended up locking the bearcan in the trunk of my car since there wasn't really anywhere for me to stash it. I figured I'd be okay since most other campers still had traditional coolers out, etc. The old: “I just have to run faster than you” idea. 😂  Hehe…

It was close to midnight when I was awakened by the sounds of squeaking / crunching plastic.  ()*#%&  My little Fiat was getting munched on! I put on some shoes, grabbed my headlamp and whistle and got out of the tent. I started yelling and blowing the whistle as hard as I could (hello camping neighbors).  Sure enough, it was my new friend Cinnabon trying to check out my bite-sized car – he definitely wasn't aggressive towards me and I think we were both equally scared of each other – he just climbed up a nearby tree next to my car as I shone my light around.  Frankly, it all happened so fast, I'm not sure I did everything I was supposed to but I kept my distance and kept making noise until he actually left. Pheww…  It's amazing how quickly you can wake up, get up and get going when adrenaline kicks in. 🙂

At that point, I was kind of done and decided to pack up and drive home. Baldy would be waiting for me another day.  Other than a broken rear windshield wiper, there was luckily no damage to the car – the body panels had sprung back into place with no visible dents or scratches.  There was just a very thick dripping coating of slobber all over the door handles and hatchback and giant paw prints everywhere.

A couple in a pick up truck drove up as I was about ready to take off.  We exchanged bear stories – they were also leaving early.  They had retreated to their car when they heard my whistle and the bear, only to have the bear come over to their spot to try to peek in the cab of the pick up while they were in it!  We all agreed that the final score was:

Bear – 2, Humans – 0

These definitely are the mini adventures you end up remembering. No Baldy for me this time but plenty of stories to tell. Silver lining – there was no L.A. traffic this time of night and I got home around 2:30am.  It was hard to believe that it had only been ~24h since I had left the house!

Hike Logs: 2021