Our group arrived at the Icehouse Trailhead at 6:15am on a Sunday. We ended up parking down Mt Baldy road because there were no spots. We realized as we started to ascend, that some folks camp up top and / or do late night hikes to end with the sunset – so you might get lucky pulling in to find a group leaving.

We've done the hike to The Saddle before (3.6 miles up) with the stream off to your right and some decent climbing. And when we got to The Saddle it toyed with our minds… 2.5 miles to Cucamonga Peak AND 2.5 miles to Onterio Peak. Could we do both??

After some debate, we decided to ascend Cucamonga and regroup to see if we could tick off both peaks that day – needless to say we only hit one peak that day

Pushing off from The Saddle, you head up and to the left. A little way in you'll see a hole and some cables to the right of the trail. Apparently this was an old mining shaft. So, that was kinda cool – and also your last notable landmark to break up your trek.

The trail is carved out of the hillside and at times you question if you missed a turn because there's a portion where you head downhill. Don't worry you'll make up for it later.

This is a dog friendly trail and we welcomed the four legged tour guides who let us pet them as they passed.

Once you cross over to Cucamonga, you'll start your switchbacks – I counted 14. This was the most challenging, both, because of the climb and because you need to pay attention to stay on the trail. If you step over a rock barricade or a log, chances are you stepped off trail. It happened at least twice to us

The trail is pretty crowded. I think we passed / was passed by about 2 dozen people.

You know you're close to the top when you start just climbing straight up and see folks hanging out. To the right is the rock hand where most take their picture. To the left is the true top. We found (3) signs to the right. No signs or marker to the left.

Hang out, enjoy your snack and take in the view of the valley. It was a clear day w/ some smog and a nice breeze.

We headed back down, collected at The Saddle, laughed at our aggressive thought to climb Onterio and then headed back to the car.

Close to the finish, we dropped down to the stream and put our tired feet in. The ice water was a welcomed refresher and helped with the last .25 miles.

Overall, was a tough hike but with some great views as you climb. Personally, I prefer a peak with views of greenery and this offered a birds eye view of the city.

Glad it's done, but we will be back for Ontario and Mt Baldy soon.