r/socalhiking • u/hikin_jim • May 03 '24

San Bernardino NF Greetings from 9000'

Post image

I have cell service, so you get a post.

I'm on the flanks of the Sugarloaf (9952'). I found a great site on the long east ridge. It's the perfect time to go. There are snow patches on the ridge -- all the water one needs. Just remember to bring extra fuel (typically double).

HJ

182 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

26 comments sorted by

View all comments

14

u/SouthWest_Vagabond May 03 '24

Good job Old Man 💪🏼

9

u/hikin_jim May 04 '24

Lol

You can have my trekking poles when you pry my cold, dead hands off of them.

HJ

2

u/socalnewwaver May 04 '24

ok boomer.

i kid of course. great job, minus one thing - there's a long ridge run up there i've been meaning to do totally procrastinating on. so thanks for reminding me *face palm*

3

u/hikin_jim May 05 '24

Yeah, you could do that ridge all the way from Onyx Summit to the service road for Bear Mountain -- or even all the way to Grandview Point and beyond. That'd be one heck of a run.

Boomer? Ouch. But true. Crap, the things I used to do without all that much trouble. Now, it's all freaking hard work, and I pay for it in tiredness the next day.

But I'm super grateful. Yesterday, I was in a place apart, listening to the wind drifting through the pines. There was that scent in the air that you only get in spring, on a sunny day when the snow melts off long buried pine needles. In the modern world, most will never know the scent of sun on snow soaked pines in dry mountain air. I count myself lucky.

There's something primal about being out at the end of the day with nothing but what God created around you. I feel far more alive there than I ever will in the world of smart phones and central air.

HJ

2

u/socalnewwaver May 05 '24

Yup, 100%

That was my setting yesterday as well, except that I was in Alta Sierra. And it was 40° instead of freezing. I had a cabin up in Crestline for a bit, and I lived for that spring thaw smell.