This weekend's adventure!

So this weekend was mostly taken up by a school-commitment, so I didn't have much time to get out and do anything. I knew I was going to have most of Sunday to myself, so I planned a little day-hike up in Forest Falls. I didn't want to go very far up into the mountains, so I did a little research, and found a nice little trail that would take me to a waterfall called Big Falls. I'm a total waterfall junkie - I try to find one everywhere I travel - so I was super excited to find one so close to where I live. Just a short drive out on Highway 38, and through the town of Forest Falls brings you to a little parking area at the base of the San Gorgonio mountain and wilderness area, where there's different trailheads that will take you to the summit of San Gorgonio mountain. I want to climb to the summit later this spring, or early summer, before I head up to Seattle for the summer.

The summit of San Gorgonio is the highest peak in southern California at 11,503 feet, and any trail requires over 4,000 feet of elevation gain. It will be a good training hike for me, since my goal is to climb Mt. Whitney (which is the tallest peak in the contiguous 48 states) by the end of the summer!

Anyway, back to today's adventure. So I knew there was a chance of rain, but it was sunny when I left the house, so I figured maybe I could do a little hiking before the real rain showed up. Well, much to my dismay, by the time I made it up to Forest Falls, it was snowing!! So much for that plan. Well, at least I found the trailheads, but I had to turn around before the roads got too bad. I did stop at the Momyer Creek traihead, and watched the people playing in the snow by Mill Creek - which was flowing pretty good.



On the road back, after I got past the snow, I stopped at a vista point and hiked down to the creek to take a few pictures.



Prickly Pear Cactus & snow on the mountains in the background!




Cute ladybug & prickly pear





Then, a few more miles down the road, I stopped at Thurman Flat picnic area. I took a good little trail that crossed over the creek, and then started climbing up the hill on the other side, but had to stop, because the trail got too muddy for how steep it was.



The first little creek crossing


The bigger creek crossing - had to hop across some rocks and walk across some logs


I stopped to admire a pretty cool huge boulder that people must use to climb and rappel, because I saw a few anchor points on the side of the boulder.



When I got back to the car, I found that the Forest Service was kind enough to not issue me a ticket today, (since I didn't buy an adventure pass yet). So, on the way back home, I stopped at the Ranger station to buy my year-long pass. Hopefully I can make it to the waterfall in March, when Mike is here!