Before starting my hike, I was apprehensive to start because of how few hikers are presents for the San Bernardino Trail. Most of my hikes had populated hikers to feel secure and accompanied on the trails, but hiking in a national forest was different since it was my first-time hiking and camping in the back country. I stayed in my car for a few minutes until I could see another car approaching the trail which gave me a small motivation to start the hike. But the motivation would wear off as the uncertain feeling of solo hiking started to bother me. Did I prepare enough for the weather for overnight camping? Will I respond or defend myself correctly when I see a bear on the trail? Will I hike safely due to the heavy snow on the summit? Eventually, I would snap back to reality only to realize I was starting to enter deeper into the woods that the parking lot was no longer visible. From that point, I knew it would be pointless to hike back. My only path was to continue hiking forward until I reached the peak.

Approaching close to Manzanita Springs I took a few minutes to relax my legs, but to look back at the burned tree caused by the 2020 El Dorado Fire. What a sight to see the trail when the section was still vibrant with trees. After a short rest, I started hiking again, but I started to notice the temperature was starting to feel a little cooler. Yeah, there still was snow up at the summit. The question was how much? Well, my question was answered a few minutes later as I saw the first patch of snow on the trail. No problem, I thought. I have my crampons. Before reaching for it, I thought it was still too early to use it. Besides it’s only a small patch. It wasn’t until about a 1 mile away from Lone Pine Campground where I saw some serious snow on the trail. Not a problem, I thought. Just step on the snow prints from previous hikers and you show be good. The small problem was navigating which snow footprint to step on next as numerous snow foot prints started to overlap the trail at the steep snow section. After a few minutes of slowly ascending, I made it to the campsite as I set up my tent to hide from the sun and sleep for a few hours as the sunlight started to become brighter and hotter.

Upon researching and checking the trail condition there was discussion on the hiking forums about the San Bernardino snow condition at the summit. Reading the forums, there was a particular word that was repeated from previous hikers who summited the peak: chute. After getting about a few hours of sleep, I woke up to start the summit hike. Now this is where I’ll admit the snow played a major factor hiking to the summit. I attempted to follow the trail provided from a previously established trail to the peak, however, due to the heavy snow still present on high elevation navigating the snow to find the snow prints became difficult. So difficult, I gave up halfway on the trail to find Limber Pine Spring to refill my water bottle that I went off the snow trail in attempt to cut the switchback to reconnect on the trail on higher elevation. Yes, that means hiking on a snowy slope. Thankfully, I downloaded a map of the San Bernadino Peak and the Gaia GPS app I was using was able to guide me back on the trail until I reach another snowy slope. Now this is where I struggled the most because there were no previous snow footprint to indicate a trail to follow. In fact, there were no prints because the snow was very deep with slopes. If I had tried to follow the trail based on the GPS, I would have difficulty trying to stabilize my footing on the slope. My trekking poles were sinking into the snow and getting stuck to pull out. Even with my crampons, which had 15 points with about ¼ inch spike length, I was still sliding on the snowy slopes.

Disappointed at the trail condition and time I had length left before night fall, I decided to hike back down to the campsite and try again early tomorrow morning. As I started to descend, I noticed three hikers descending as well, however, they were descending on a snow free slope section. Curious I asked about their summit experience which led to a discussion on how they reach the summit. Their discussion about the hike suddenly became clear how previous hikers summited the peak using a off trail path. The chute. With the details about the chute conditions and the guaranteed time to make it to the summit just before sunset, a new feeling of determination motivated me to hike the chute. While three fourths of the chute path was manageable with the snow, the last fourth of the chute path became more cautious to hike as the heavy snow and sliding started to become present again. Thankfully, I reach the top of the ridge to marvel at the vistas of the other mountains from a distance. After another few more minutes of hiking on snow, I finally reached the summit of the San Bernadino peak. As the hikers predicted, I reached the summit just before sunset. Without a doubt the view on a summit at sunset is a different feeling. The bright orange color of the sunset slowly changes as the lake from Big Bear and the San Gorgonio Mountain still visible to see at the peak.

Back at campsite, after descending the chute at nightfall, I took one last look at the San Bernardino County lights. To reflect how far I’ve come from with this six-pack peak challenge. For every mountain I hiked my experience on preparation and committed to the challenge is slowly changing my confidence. To be bolder in life.

Three down, three more to go.