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San Gorgonio Mountain: Dry Lake – Fish Creek Saddle – Dollar Lake Loop

first published August 3, 2013 & last updated December 4, 2019 Gary Valle

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Sky High Trail on San Gorgonio Mountain

Sky High Trail a Mile from the Top of San Gorgonio Mountain

Time flies when you’re having fun, and except for kayaking the upper Santa Ana River and a ski ascent or two, the last time I’d been on the north side of San Gorgonio was before Poopout Hill closed in 1988. Curious to refresh my memory of the area and compare a South Fork trail run to those on the Forest Falls side of the mountain, I started thinking about what would be an interesting route to do.

Running in shorts and short sleeves, I’d left the South Fork trailhead about 7:30 and was now about a half-hour into the run. Up ahead was the turn-off to Poopout Hill and not far beyond that the wilderness boundary. I’d been doing a mix of fast hiking and running and enjoying the morning. A black-capped chickadee had stopped on a branch to say hi, and a Steller’s jay was complaining loudly from the top of a pine. Earlier I’d passed Horse Meadows, an iconic scene with sunlight filtering through the trees, green meadows and rustic brown cowboy cabins.

About a quarter mile past Poopout Hill my jaw dropped as I rounded a corner and was suddenly in a sizable avalanche path. A tumult of interleaved firs and pines lay in a hundred yard wide swath that extended thousands of vertical feet up the mountain.

This avalanche likely occurred within a few days of January 23, 2010, following (or during) a multi-day rain and snow event in Southern California. Over the seven day period from January 17 to January 23, the rain gauge at Mill Creek recorded 7.82 inches of precipitation. According to a NWS report, Mt. Baldy recorded 7′ of snow at the 8600′ level. The source area of the avalanche appears to have been in a cirque near peak 10,230.

Working up the hill toward South Fork Meadows I stopped to chat with a Ranger, who checked my wilderness permit and mentioned a group of day hikers had left South Fork very early and were ahead of me.

At the Dry Lake/Dollar Lake fork at South Fork Meadows I turned left onto the Dry Lake Trail. I already heard water, so one question was answered — there was plenty of water at South Fork Meadows. Comments on the Water Info Collector had said Lodgepole Spring was low, but “flowing OK,” so the plan was to top off my water there.

Dry Lake was indeed dry, but the meadow in its place and backdrop of sculptured mountains was still impressive. The next stop was Lodgepole Spring; I just had to find the use trail leading to it. This was one of those situations where it’s important to note the details of the topography. There are two areas that people camp at Dry Lake (noted on a sign) and the use trail is in the drainage above the second, more southerly camp.

After talking to some campers I followed the trail around the east side of Dry Lake and into the primary camping area. After working up the drainage a couple tenths of a mile I found a small spring flowing out of some willows. Rather than taking the time to use a UV pen, I used a makeshift cup to fill a one liter collapsible water bottle with a built-in filter. Hopefully that, and what was left in my pack, would get me up to the peak and back down to South Fork Meadows.

The “use” trail from Lodgepole Spring was not too difficult to follow and it took about 30 minutes to get up to Fish Creek Saddle. The trail between Fish Creek Saddle and Mineshaft Saddle more or less follows the 9880′ contour line and was reasonably runnable. It passes through an area of lodgepole pines killed by the mountain pine beetle.

In a few minutes I rejoined the regular Dry Lake route at Mine Shaft Saddle and started up the increasingly scenic Sky High Trail. About a mile up the trail from Mine Shaft Saddle is wreckage and a memorial to the personnel of a Douglas C-47 that crashed in a snowstorm on December 1, 1952. The C-47B “Gooney Bird” was a military version of the venerable DC-3 airliner.

The Sky High Trail earned its name as it switchbacked up to 11,000′, and wrapped around the south side of Gorgonio’s summit. From the airy trail there are stunning views past The Tarn to Banning Pass and Mt. San Jacinto. The Sky High Trail joined the Divide Trail a little east of the Vivian Creek Trail junction and in a couple of minutes I was jogging east across the summit plateau to the blocky summit of San Gorgonio Mountain.

According to the Trail Mileage Handout (PDF) from the San Gorgonio Wilderness Association the descent from the summit by way of Dollar Lake Saddle and the Dollar Lake Trail is about 10.7 miles — which is a little shorter than the 11.4 miles listed using the regular Dry Lake route. (Mileage doesn’t include the side trip to Lodgepole Spring.) Even so, I think the Dry Lake route is the preferred route from South Fork Meadows. It’s more scenic and aesthetic.

The running was technical, but good down to Dollar Lake Saddle. Below Dollar Lake Saddle the trail was often very rocky. This lightning-scarred pine was on one of the last switchbacks before South Fork Meadows. I was happy to get down to South Fork Meadows, get some water, and get onto a better trail! By about 3:30 pm I was back at the car and enjoying an ice cold bottle of water.

Some related posts: Falls Creek Loop 2012, San Gorgonio High Line 2009

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San Gorgonio Mountain – Falls Creek Loop 2012

published October 6, 2012 Gary Valle

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Falls Creek Trail on San Gorgonio MOuntain

Models didn’t show the upper level cutoff low affecting Southern California until Monday or Tuesday at the earliest. But upper level lows tend to be notoriously unpredictable, so I’d been checking the computer weather models and NWS forecasts every day. The NWS forecast for today’s run/hike to the summit of San Gorgonio looked pretty good:

“Partly cloudy. Highs 59 to 69 above 6000 feet to 69 to 79 below 6000 feet. Areas of winds west 15 mph in the morning becoming light. Near ridge tops and along desert slopes… Areas of winds southwest 15 mph…Gusts to 25 mph in the morning.”

The weather was even better than suggested in the forecast. It was short-sleeves and shorts all the way up to the top and back down. Temps were pleasant and winds light on the 11,503′ summit. (NAVD88 elevation – PeakBagger.com.) It was warmer at the higher elevations and cooler at the lower elevations than last year’s run and about as good as it gets for a trail run encompassing an elevation range of 6000 feet.

The title photo is from about 8000’on the Falls Creek Trail — only 3500′ of elevation gain to go! Here are a few more photos:

Falls Creek Trail Near Saxton Camp	Divide Trail Near Jepson Peak	Chutes on Jepson Peak
Summit & San Jacinto	Top of San Gorgonio	Starting the descent

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San Gorgonio Mountain – Falls Creek Loop 2011

first published October 22, 2011 & last updated January 18, 2020 Gary Valle

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Falls Creek Trail near Plummer Meadows

I don’t say this very often, but it was great to be running on pavement — smooth, even, consistent pavement. All I had to do was put one foot in front of the other and chug on down the blacktop.

I was running down Valley of the Falls Drive from the Vivian Creek trailhead to the Momyer Creek trailhead after ascending San Gorgonio Mountain (11,499′). San Gorgonio is the highest peak in Southern California, the nearest higher peaks being Charleston Peak (11,916′) west of Las Vegas, and Olancha Peak (12,123′) in the Sierra Nevada.

The Momyer Creek and Vivian Creek trailheads are in Mill Creek Canyon, near Forest Falls, on the south side of San Gorgonio Mountain. It only takes me a few minutes longer to drive to the Momyer Trailhead than to drive to Islip Saddle in the San Gabriels, or the Chula Vista trailhead on Mt. Pinos. Momyer is another great option for a scenic, challenging, higher altitude trail run that’s relatively close to home.

There are two routes I like to do on the Forest Falls side of the mountain — the High Line and the Falls Creek loops. Both start/end at Momyer and descend via the Vivian Creek Trail.

Today I’d done the Falls Creek route. This adventurous run features 24 miles of mostly technical trail that gains and loses about 6600′ and tops out at 11,499′. It’s comparable in effort and time to a tough SoCal style 50K. The High Line route is even more of a challenge.

The day had been one of those perfect, cloudless, crystalline days you get in the Autumn, with hundred mile visibility, empyrean blue skies, rich yellow leaves, and long cold shadows.

Following last Winter’s good snowfall and runoff, and the unseasonably strong storm earlier this month, springs and streams were flowing well. On the way I stopped for water at Plummer Meadows, and on the way down at High Creek. Even though I’ve been doing adventures in the mountains for decades, it’s still a little surprising how much water is needed on a higher altitude run, especially when the humidity is low.

Recently someone asked me what kind of water filter I use with a hydration pack. I’ve used three approaches for water treatment when the water source is a “good” one and treatment is a precaution.

Updated September 19, 2017

– UV light pen. SteriPen appears to be the most widely used outdoor UV water purifying pen, and several versions are available. I’m currently using the Steripen Adventurer.
– Inline filter. Before UV pens were widely available and accepted I would occasionally use an inline filter. When dry, the filter was lightweight, however its flow rate was barely adequate. The brand I used to use is no longer available, but the Sawyer 3 Way Water Filter looks similar. Specs say it weighs 1.8 oz.
– No treatment. This is the lightest and fastest option, but having watched a climbing friend fight giardia for a year and lose a shocking amount of weight and strength, I can’t recommend it.

In the Wikipedia overview of portable water purification a writer comments that “studies have shown that UV doses at the levels provided by common portable UV units are effective at killing Giardia and that there was no evidence of repair and reactivation of the cysts.”

The range of temperatures on today’s run was extraordinary. It was cool on the summit — in the low forties — but the coldest temperature was on the shaded slopes below Dollar Lake Saddle (10,000′). Here the temperature had been a chilly thirty-something. Down in Mill Creek Canyon at the end of the run the temperature felt like it was in the mid-eighties. The Mill Creek RAWS, near the ranger station, recorded a temperature of 92 degrees in the mid afternoon with a relative humidity of only 12%.

One of the highlights of today’s run is that there were still patches of snow above 10,000′ from the storm on October 5th! One big patch at 11,000′ was beginning to become sun-cupped. I don’t think I’ve seen sun-cupped new snow in Autumn before!

The title photograph is from the Falls Creek Trail near Plummer Meadows. Dollar Lake Saddle and Charlton Peak loom above.

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San Gorgonio High Line 2009

published October 24, 2009 Gary Valle

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San Bernardino Mountain Divide from near Charlton Peak

As I approached the spur trail to High Meadow Springs, I tried to convince myself I had enough water to continue. The problem wasn’t the third of a mile detour down to the spring, or even the 280′ loss of elevation. The problem was the interruption. Having to get water was like having to stop to remove an annoying little rock from your shoe. You know you should, but one mile passes, then two… The running along the 10,500′ crest on the Divide Trail was just so spectacular, I didn’t want to stop!

I reached behind my back and squished the Camelbak reservoir with my hand. Yea, there’s plenty of water, I don’t have to stop. I can make it to the summit of Gorgonio, and then get water at High Camp on Vivian Creek on the way down.

But hadn’t I nearly run out of water the last time I did this? I did a rough calculation of the distance… about four miles to the peak, with a gain of 1500′, and then another four miles to the creek. Reluctantly, I slowed, and turned off the Divide Trail

At the spring, I pulled the reservoir from my pack. Only about 25 oz. of water remained. The little spring burbled and gurgled energetically, and it didn’t take long to replenish my water supply. East of Shields Flat, the trail to High Meadow Springs is about a quarter-mile below the point marked 10,500 on the topo, and about half a mile above Red Rock Flat. At an elevation of 10,120′, the springs sit near the top of a steep canyon that drops down to Plummer Meadows. It’s an airy location with an expansive view.

Earlier, I had chugged up the Momyer Creek Trail to the San Bernardino Peak Divide Trail. Once past the turn to Alger Camp, this trail becomes more of a footpath, weaving its way through a middle elevation forest of pine and fir, around innumerable bark beetle felled Jeffrey pines, and up to a high mountain habitat of chaparral and Lodgepole pine.

If stretches of trail with a 30% grade are not enough of a challenge, the last couple of miles to the divide include overgrown sections that will not only slow the shorts clad hiker or runner, but over time become annoyingly painful. Chinquapin is your friend, manzanita an adversary, and whitethorn your archenemy. And there is a lot of whitethorn.

After visiting High Meadow Springs, I continued down to Dollar Saddle. Beyond this point I expected to see an increasing number of hikers. The previous Saturday it had been exceptionally busy on Mt. San Jacinto, and the weather was even better today. Eventually, near Jepson Peak, I encountered a couple of hikers returning from the summit, and then passed a couple more working up the trail. But that was it — and the summit of San Gorgonio was empty. Unusual for such a perfect Autumn day.

Here’s a Cesium browser View of a GPS trace of the 26 mile route, and an elevation profile generated by SportTracks. The approximate elevation gain and loss was about 7000′.

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San Gorgonio Mountain – Falls Creek Loop

first published July 19, 2008 & last updated July 8, 2023 Gary Valle

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Falls Creek trail on Mt. San Gorgonio.

Lowland blues got you down? Are you beginning to think faux pine tree cell towers aren’t that ugly? Do you gaze longingly at distant mountains and then realize you’re looking at a billboard?

When I feel that way, one of the close-to-home hikes/runs that satiates the alpine craving is the Falls Creek loop on Mt. San Gorgonio. The ‘Falls Creek up, Vivian Creek down’ route has been a high mountain favorite of mine for a number of years. It is as rigorous as it is beautiful. About 24.5 miles long, it gains approximately 6600′ on the way to the 11,499′ summit of San Gorgonio.

Even at 7:30 in the morning, the climb out from the Momyer trailhead on the steep, south-facing slope of Mill Creek canyon had been warm, but in about an hour we were in the firs and pines, and contouring into the shaded drainage of Alger Creek. Another 30 minutes and the trail has joined the route of the original Falls Creek trail — climbing to the eastern side of the divide between Alger Creek and Falls Creek and turning north as it entered the Falls Creek drainage. (A spur trail descends to Dobbs Camp.)

The trail up the Falls Creek drainage has few switchbacks and is deceivingly steep, but the segment is one I always enjoy. Near Saxton Camp its course works back into a lush side canyon, where it crosses an idyllic stream in a pastoral mountain setting. Above Saxton Camp, the area has an isolated, big sky, big mountain feel. Bright green slopes of manzanita extend upward for miles, and stale flatland sights, smells and sounds are displaced in favor of deep blue skies, the minty fragrance of pennyroyal, and the raucous shouts of Stellar’s jays.

Just get me to Dollar Lake Saddle… Please! I don’t know what it is about this section of trail, but the short 1000′ climb from Plummer Meadows to Dollar Lake Saddle is always tougher than I expect. Maybe it’s the altitude, maybe it’s the miles I’ve run during the week, or maybe it’s a gravity anomaly — whatever, it’s a relief to get to the saddle.

Above the saddle, the trail becomes more airy and alpine, and at times there are views of the summit area of Gorgonio and down Gorgonio’s north face. Adrenalin flows and the effort required seems to ease. Sometimes running, sometimes hiking, we continue up the rocky path.

About an hour above Dollar Lake Saddle, we jog across a nice flat stretch of trail just below Gorgonio’s summit. It’s around noon when Andrew and I weave our way through a final few boulders to the summit. Relaxing on the summit, we chat with others about their routes, and talk about running and the mountains.

In February, Andrew caught the trail running bug. In May he completed his first ultra — a fifty miler. Now he’s training to run the Angeles Crest 100 mile endurance run in September. Today’s ascent of San Gorgonio is the first of two long mountain trail runs he will do this weekend.

After about 15-20 minutes on the summit, we jog back to the Vivian Creek trail, jump on the escalator and head down. There are the usual stops to get water at Upper Vivian Creek (the last water was at Plummer Meadows), and to take a few photographs. There’s also a quick stop to have our wilderness permit checked.

Around 2:50 we’re off the mountain and crossing Mill Creek, and in a few minutes we’re running down the blacktop and back to Momyer.

Here’s a Google Earth image and Google Earth KMZ file of a GPS trace of the loop. Surprisingly, it is only about 1.5 miles shorter than the “high line” loop that ascends East San Bernardino Peak before traversing to Mt. San Gorgonio.

Google Earth KMZ Files of Southern California Trail Runs

first published July 12, 2008 & last updated January 28, 2022 Gary Valle

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Introduced around 2000, the Garmin eTrex was the first GPS unit I used to trace a trail run. The GPS tracks were imported into TOPO! where the length of a run could be measured, an elevation profile generated, and the topography of the run examined.

Since the eTrex was designed to be used in an “orienteering” position — flat in your hand in front of your body — it would frequently have trouble receiving GPS satellite signals if hand-carried while running or hiking. About the time enterprising hikers and runners began to resolve this issue with creative hats, holsters and harnesses, Garmin released the Forerunner 201, greatly simplifying the task of tracing a route.

In 2005, while preparing a presentation about kayaking Piru Creek for a meeting with the Forest Service, I stumbled onto Keyhole.com. To say I was blown away by this bit of “Eureka” technology would be an a gross understatement. Now, in addition to seeing Piru Creek in photographs, and on a topo map, you could get a “before you paddle” preview using Keyhole — even if you couldn’t paddle class IV whitewater! Google acquired Keyhole in late 2004 and launched Google Earth on June 28, 2005.

Shortly after Google Earth was launched, SportTracks added the ability to launch Google Earth and view the GPS trace of a run or other activity. Since SportTracks could also directly import data from Garmin’s Forerunner, the software made it very easy to view a run in Google Earth.

I’ve been working on updating the posts on Photography on the Run that reference a trail run to include a link to a Google Earth KMZ file. A KMZ file is just a zipped KML file, and either can be opened in Google Earth. A list of the trail runs with KMZ file links can be found by clicking “Google Earth KMZ Files of Trail Runs” in the sidebar.

These are actual tracks recorded by a GPS during a trail run and may contain GPS errors, route-finding errors, and wanderings that are difficult to explain. In a few instances tracks have been modified to correct errors, or to remove side excursions that are not part of the usual route, but not all errors have been corrected. No claim is being made regarding the appropriateness or suitability of the routes indicated.

Photography and inspiration from running and other adventures in the Open Space and Wilderness areas of California, and beyond. No ads. All content, including photography, is Copyright © 2006-2024 Gary Valle. All Rights Reserved.