Today we set out to hike from Mill Creek Summit on the Pacific Crest Trail and up to the Pacifico Mountain Campground. I knew this mountain was a north face, and I had a feeling we might encounter some icy patches on the trail, but we decided to give it a go. I knew there would be some snow up at the campground after the recent rain, and I wanted to take advantage of that since we never know what kind of winter we’ll have here in Southern California. We were about two miles into the hike and we started to come across patches of hard packed ice. We had microspikes to slip onto our boots for traction, but if we were to continue, coming down would be sketchy. Neither one of us wanted to risk spraining an ankle, so we decided to turn around and head back. Since it was still early in the day, we drove to Charlton Flats, had some lunch and then drove up to Waterman Mountain which I knew would be reliable for a nice snow hike. It was about 12:30 when we started on the trail and I expected to see many more people hiking, but it was actually very quiet. Most of the snow play folks stayed on the fire road or over at the Buckhorn day use area and there were very few people hiking up the Waterman Mountain trail. The few people we past were hiking with dogs in tow, or rather I should say they were in tow of their dogs. That’s the one thing I love about hiking… seeing all the happy dogs on the trail. As we got higher up, we seemed to be the only people on the trail. The sky was gray with overcast clouds and the mountain seemed still and peaceful. It was around 2:15 when we reached the Twin Peaks junction which is about 3/4 miles away from the Waterman Mountain summit. At this point we both decided it was time to head back to make sure we returned safely before the sun set and the temperatures dropped and turned the melting snow to ice. We both went home satisfied after spending another beautiful day in our Southern California mountains.
Heading up to the Pacifico Mountain campground on the Pacific Crest Trail.
Views.
Starting to see ice on the trail.
We turned around just after we started to hit these patches of hard packed ice. Even with microspikes which offer a little bit more traction, it was not worth risking a sprained ankle.
Trail Angel Mary’s note to the PCT thru-hikers.
We headed up to Waterman Mountain after Pacifico Mountain didn’t work out. Waterman is always reliable for snow and I feel safe here.
Hopefully, we’ll get more snow this year and by spring this will be running with water.
A beautiful afternoon.
Looking over at the closed Highway 39.
Wilderness boundary marker.
Looking over towards Mount Wilson.
The mountain was very peaceful. Not too many hikers came up this far.
We turned around at the junction for Twin Peaks 3/4 miles away from the summit in time to get back before the sun began to set.
Snow capped Mount Baden-Powell.
Great views from the Mount Waterman Trail.
One last photo. Almost back to the car. It was a lovely day in the mountains.
