After completing the original 6-pack of peaks SoCal challenge, I decided to keep going with the back-up 6 peaks they recommended. After all, there is still some summer left and I’m still training for these Spartan Races. I started with Ontario Peak since I was already familiar with where that was and what that hike would look like given that my previous trip up to Cucamonga Peak as part of the original 6 pack. I also decided to add the 1.5 mile roundtrip side-quest to Bighorn peak since it was right there. I drove to the icehouse canyon trailhead getting there around 5:45 AM to grab one of the parking spots near the trail’s entrance. I then started to hike through the familiar icehouse canyon, managing to stay on the trail the entire way this time to reach saddleback junction where the trail splits up and to the left for Cucamonga and up and to the right for Ontario peak (and back and to the left for the three T’s hike, which I may do in the future).

This time I took the trail to Ontario peak, which was nice and flat for most of the mile towards Kelly camp, and from there it’s a steady climb to the ridgeline. Upon reaching the ridge I was greeted with some of my favorite views of any of the 6 pack hikes so far (except for maybe San Jacinto Peak). What made this one so spectacular is that the ridge line looked down on a layer clouds hovering over the land below. I started out going right to Ontario peak first, which was an enjoyable walk out that involved some flat, some downhill, and some uphill hiking. Upon reaching the peak, I was the only one there and so I took some pictures of the surrounding views and as well as the sign marking the peak. I then carefully climbed up to sit on the top of the biggest rock to make sure I hit the highest elevation point (save for climbing the tree with the bottle opener, which I avoided so as not to disturb the branches which looked close to breaking), and then even more carefully climbed back down which provided some scary moments (I don’t recommend climbing to the top of this rock, the climb up was not so bad, the climb down was very tricky).

I then back tracked the way I came and stepped over the log to the trail to the left of where I first reached the ridgeline which leads to bighorn peak. It was about 0.8 miles of hiking or so with some fairly steep uphill climbing to reach this peak, where I was disappointed to see the sign post, but no sign.  Two other hikers I met at the top assured me that this was the peak and so I guess the sign was stolen (which still amazes me, why would anyone want to steal the sign?). After grabbing a few pictures of the sign-less signpost and surrounding views, I made my way back down the way I came towards the ridgeline entrance and path back to saddleback junction. I ran the less technical parts of the downhill trek in an effort to make good time and I reached my car right at 14.01 miles and 5 hours and 57 minutes on my Garmin. Not bad for a double-peak day!