Along with Sandstone Peak, Tri Peaks, and Exchange Peak, Boney Peak is an officially named peak that is part of the Boney Mountain massif. The peak is located about 0.5 mile southwest of Sandstone Peak and is easily accessed from the Backbone Trail.
I’d climbed the other peaks in the area, and run past Boney Peak many times, but never scrambled to its summit. Getting to Boney Peak from the Wendy Drive trailhead was pretty much the same as doing Sandstone Peak. I took the “escalator” up the Western Ridge of Boney Mountain to Peak 2935 and then ran over to Tri Peaks. From there, I followed the Tri Peaks Trail to the Backbone Trail, near the Mishe Mokwa Trail junction.
Tri Peaks from the top of Boney Peak
The use trail to the top of Boney Peak leaves the Backbone Trail about a mile from the Tri Peaks/Mishe Mokwa Trail junctions. Other than a little brush, it’s fairly easy to get to the peak’s boulder-strewn summit. There was a red register can stashed in the rocks. (The title photo of Boney Peak was taken where the use trail begins.)
The actual high point of the peak is atop, a large, exposed summit block. Various trip reports describe the easiest route up the summit block as class 3. That seems about right. Although relatively straightforward, the use of handholds is necessary, and a fall would ruin your whole day. Like many such boulders, it is easier to climb up than to climb down, and someone without rock climbing experience could easily find themselves unable or unwilling to climb down.
California poppy blooming in February!
From Boney Peak, I returned to the Backbone Trail and headed west, down the Chamberlain Trail and on to the Danielson Multi-Use area. A few brightly-colored, yellow-orange poppies were already blooming along the trail. The rest of the run was the usual jog up Sycamore Canyon to the Upper Sycamore Trail, and then back to Satwiwa and Wendy Drive.
Here’s a 3D Cesium interactive view that shows a GPS track of my route. The view can be zoomed, tilted, rotated, and panned. Placemark and track locations are approximate and subject to errors.
If the wildflower is red, the season is Fall, and you are in Southern California, the flower is probably California fuchsia. You might also find there is a hummingbird feeding on the “hummingbird trumpets,” or hovering nearby, watching over its flowers.
California fuchsia along Bulldog Mtwy fire road in Malibu Creek State Park.
As a result of the wet 2018-19 rain season, and somewhat cooler than normal summer, California fuchsia is especially abundant this Fall, with some exceptional displays along local trails.
I’ve added California fuchsia, and a few other flowers that are blooming this Fall, to my Weekday Wildflowers slideshow. These are wildflowers photographed this year on weekday runs from the Victory Trailhead of Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve.
The most recent additions to my Weekday Wildflowers photo album include two non-native wildflowers seldom seen at Ahmanson Ranch — black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) and bachelor’s button (Centaurea cyanus).
Bachelor’s button
Both were found along the Lasky Mesa Trail near the dry streambed of East Las Virgenes Creek. They likely escaped cultivation or were part of a seed mix scattered in the area.
Weekday wildflowers are flowers I’ve encountered during 2019 on weekday runs from the Victory Trailhead of Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve (formerly Ahmanson Ranch).
The weather was Southern California perfect. Shorts and short-sleeves were the dress of the day. Winds were light, no thunderstorms were in the forecast and no large wildfires polluted the air. Although temps in the valleys were nearing 100 degrees, the weather on the summit of 11,499′ San Gorgonio Mountain was altitude-conditioned bliss.
I’d spent about 15 minutes enjoying the summit, then run back down the Summit Trail. Turning left onto the Sky High Trail, I continued a keyhole loop that had ascended the South Fork Trail, Dollar Lake, and San Bernardino Divide Trails. Altogether, the route was about 21 miles long and the approximate elevation gain/loss was 4700′.
Penstemon along the South Fork Trail.
From the start of the run, the effects of the wet 2018-19 Winter and big snowpack were everywhere. Wildflowers bloomed in profusion, seeps and small streams greened the landscape, and grasses and ferns grew thick beneath the trees. The roar of the streams at South Fork Meadows left little doubt as to what kind of Winter it had been.
On the way up the Dollar Lake Trail, I’d seen elongated patches of snow in the chutes along the crest. While there was no snow directly on the trail between Dollar Lake Saddle and the summit, there was more snow than usual on the north side of the peaks.
But there was snow on the Sky High Trail. Topping out at over 11,300′, the Sky High Trail is one of the most spectacular trails in Southern California. I marvel at its airy location every time I run it. Near the top of the trail, I’d crossed a small patch of snow and thought, “Well, at least there was a little snow on the trail.”
Large patch of snow on the Sky High Trail at an elevation of about 11,100′ on July 27, 2019.
A little disappointed, I’d put my poles away and continued running down the trail. At around 11,100′ I rounded a corner and surprise, surprise — there was a much larger patch of snow on a southeast-facing section of trail. It was about 100 yards across and steep enough that a fall would be a bad idea. Fortunately, the snow conditions were perfect. A few hikers had recently traversed the snowfield, and I followed in their footsteps.
However, that wasn’t the last of the snow. At an elevation of about 10,200′, not far past the C-47 crash site, the trail crosses a long chute that extends nearly to the top of Gorgonio. The snow in that chute had melted just enough that a thin strip of trail was exposed.
Thinking that had to be the last of the snow, I continued the traverse to Mineshaft Saddle (9936′) and began the descent of the Dry Lake Trail. Once past a rocky section of the trail, I picked up the pace, energized by the increased oxygen at lower elevation. Enjoying the downhill, I descended into an area of converging chutes and gullies, when the path through the lodgepole forest abruptly ended.
Avalanche debris on the Dry Lake Trail above Dry Lake.
The trail was obliterated. Large trees were ripped from the ground, broken, tossed, and piled up as if they were matchsticks. Underneath the debris were mounds of dense, icy snow — the remnants of an avalanche. This report on SoCalSnow.org includes photos of an avalanche in February 2019 on the north face of San Gorgonio and mentions previous avalanches.
That snow, at an elevation of about 9400′, had finally been the last on the trail. Because the compressed snow is effectively a big block of ice, it could be around for a while.
In the area of the avalanche, the Dry lake Trail enters a large area of rocky rubble that extends into the Big Draw. According to the Dibblee Geologic Map for San Gorgonio Mountain, this rubble is glacial till, produced by the largest of several pocket glaciers that existed on San Gorgonio Mountain, Shields Peak, and San Bernardino Peak.
This is the first time Dry Lake has been full this time of year since 2011.
Continuing down the trail to Dry Lake I saw where some of this season’s meltwater had gone — for the first time since 2011, Dry Lake was full in late July.
Last Saturday’s run was so enjoyable that yesterday I went back to Gorgonio and did it again. As might be expected during a Southern California Summer heatwave, the snow on the Sky High Trail, and elsewhere, is melting fast and won’t be around for long.
Here are a few photos taken along the way. The album includes photos from both the July 27 and August 3 runs. A couple of photos from a run on September 7 were also added.
The out and back trail run from the Chula Vista parking area on Mt. Pinos to Mt. Abel (Cerro Noroeste) is a long-time favorite. It combines subalpine summits, beautiful pine and fir forests, and a unique flora with uncrowded trails that are fun to run and explore.
The basic out and back to Mt. Abel (Cerro Noroeste) with a stop on the way back at Sheep Camp for water is around 14 miles with an elevation gain/loss of about 3400′. The side trips to Sawmill Mountain and Grouse Mountain are short and add about 0.75 mile to the distance and around 250′ to the elevation gain.
As in other areas of Southern California, the wet 2018-19 Winter has resulted in an abundance of wildflowers in the Mt. Pinos region. Paintbrush, mariposa lily, larkspur, penstemon, lupine, phlox, iris, yarrow and many other plants are blooming in profusion. Limber pines in the area are full of cones and the spring at Sheep Camp is flowing well.
When I run to Trippet Ranch from the Top of Reseda, I like to take the fire roads out and single-track trails back. The trails I use to return to the Top of Reseda from Trippet are the Musch, Garapito, and Bent Arrow Trails.
Scarlet larkspur along the Garapito Trail.
I don’t think I’ve seen as many Plummer’s mariposa lilies (Calochortus plummerae) along the Garapito Trail as I did this last Saturday. Like many other plants this showy lily seems to have benefited from the wet 2018-19 rain season and generally cool Spring temperatures.
The Plummer’s mariposa lily has a CNPS Rare Plant Rank of 4.2, which means it has a limited distribution and is moderately threatened in California. It’s not necessarily rare within its range, but its range is limited to a small area of Southern California.
Among the other wildflowers along the trail were numerous large patches of Scarlet larkspur (Delphinium cardinale) and Farewell-to-spring (Clarkia bottae).
