Adventure 008, Hike 099 - Vivian Creek Trail

Capture California, the Game-2012

Adventure: 008-99 : Vivian Creek Trail

Team: Thing One, Thing Two

Date:  September 6, 2012

Location: San Gorgonio

Description:  The second saint of the three mountains in the 8000 meter challenge. This trail is long and seems to go on forever. It’s a round trip of 18 miles and the peak is at 11,502 which creates an elevation element to the challenge. We also have the challenge of having to the make the peak by the recommended time of 3:30 so that we could make the last tram on the next peak.

We started our hike at 10:45 and I hiked this one with 3 of my teammates. It was a challenge to balance the time and the rest stops to make sure we had enough energy to make it up the mountain. This was apparently an area with the most gigantic rattlers known to man. I almost stepped on a 5 ft. rattler who was making his way across the trail.

There were approximately a thousand switchbacks (slight exaggeration) to go up and a false summit. Also once you hit 10,500 feet my bay area brain stops working apparently. We made it to the summit at 3:45 and turned to go back down at 3:55. You may remember from earlier that 3:30 was recommended for turnaround time from the summit. I guess I kinda like challenge.

We turn around and bomb down the mountain. Mostly a mix of fast hiking and jogging when the trail was flat enough. It’s an easy place to twist an ankle if one isn’t careful. Once we got about 3 miles from the car we were on such a time crunch that it was necessary to run if we wanted to make it to the tram. Two of my teammates weren’t able to make the run down because of knees and exhaustion. The other two of us though…. We flew. We made it down to the car and I swear you have never seen a Prius drive like it did on its way to the next mountain.