San Gorgonio Mountain

San Gorgonio— the tallest peak in Southern California, towers above the desert inferno at an elevation of 11,503 ft., providing a cool, remote, wilderness playground for all adventure seeking trail runners and hikers alike. A lesser traveled route, the South Fork Lollipop is one of my favorite fast-packing adventures in the San Bernardino Mountains. 20 miles round trip and 4,700 feet of vertical gain in the clockwise direction make it well worth the 1.5 hr drive from Palm Springs for a solid weekend training run! You can access the South Fork Trail Head from CA-38 and will need an Adventure Pass to park there. You can buy a pass online or at local retailers like Big 5 Sports. This route is fun and doable in every season if you plan accordingly and have some good experience in the mountains. For a summer ascent, I would rate this adventure at moderate difficulty. It can get pretty steep and technical towards the peak and you are dealing with high elevation, so I recommend having a decent level of fitness before attempting to summit this peak in a day. As it gets closer to the winter season, and especially if there is snow, I would rate this route at an expert level of difficulty. Micro spikes and trekking poles are highly recommended. You will be route finding and orienteering as the snow levels increase, and again the higher altitude and steepness of the climb will require good fitness and orienteering skills. If the snow isn’t too deep on a winter ascent, you can even catch a glimpse of an old plane crash from 1956 at about 9,000 feet in elevation! I believe it’s a Douglas DC-6B. As an extra precaution, I will warn you that there are black bears and mountain lions in these mountains so it never hurts to bring a can of bear spray just in case. Whether you’re seeking peace and solitude or a thrilling ascent, San Gorgonio Peak offers an experience that is equally demanding and breathtaking. Regardless of the route you take to the summit, i.e. Vivian Creek, Fish Creek, Aspen Grove, and several more, the journey will be unforgettable, and a must-visit destination for any adventurer exploring Southern California.

I did a 2 day backpacking trip to dry lake then the summit. Temperature was great and there weren’t too many bugs as well. Summit was very pretty, got visited by a couple squirrels while eating lunch. Would recommend to anyone who like the outdoors

San Gregornio is a pretty awesome climb if you're up to it. The hike isn't very difficult and we made it to the summit without any problems, and it was very cool to be up past the tree line. We hiked up from the bottom of South Fork Trail and took Dry Lake trail up to dry lake where we spent the night and woke up early to summit, then hiked back down to the trailhead the same day.

Hiked from South Fork on July 15 and it was about 19.5 miles. Not hard, just really long, hot, and exposed. Some small snow patches above 10,000ft but they'll probably be gone in a week. A lot of burn scar sections. The views near the top were better. Probably won't do it again, but glad I did it.

I summit on 6/15/2022, the last 2 miles were brutal, I literally stopped every 2 mins to catch a breath but in the end it was worth it. They had a lot of parking and I only saw 5 other people the entire time hiked. There were a lot of bugs and mosquitoes. Bring plenty of water,I had 2 1/2 liters with me and ran out the last 3 miles.