San Bernardino Mountain

The San Bernardino Mountains were formed as a result of the North American and Pacific Plates, along the San Andreas Fault. It was home to many Native American tribes, including the Gabrielinos, the Cahuilla, and the Serrano and Chemehuevi tribes.

In 1819, San Bernardino de Sena Estancia, a ranch, was constructed to help support the Mission San Gabriel Archangel to convert all the native Americans in the Alta California area to Christianity.

In 1852, Colonel Henry Washington, a surveyor for the U.S. Surveyor General of California, erected a monument atop San Bernardino Peak, which was to be used as the east-west point for all future surveys.

As a result of the gold discovery at Holcomb Creek, a gold rush started in 1860 and sprouted many boomtowns, such as Belleville.

This is our major training hike for Sierra since there is major altitude gain. This will be our most important measure of your ability to do the Sierra Trek.

Time

July triennial

Activities

• 3 days, 2 nights Sierra Backpacking training hike.

  • On Friday night, we hike an easy 3 miles to around John’s Meadow at 7200 ft.

  • We climb 2 miles Saturday morning to Saddle and then hike several miles further to a spring. We continue to San Bernardino Peak at 10649 ft. —so 3400 ft. climb over 7 miles. We continue on the San Bernardino East Peak and descend to Anderson Flat—camping overlooking lights of San Gorgonio Pass. Water is at High Springs.

  • Sunday morning it’s 3 miles down to a lunch stop at Jackstraw Springs and then all the way down to the trailhead.

• Cooking, Camping, Camp Fire, Leave No Trace, Food related requirements.

• [Hiking Merit Badge] [Miles Hike] [Camping Merit Badge][Star Nights] [622 Special SoCal Peaks Patch] [622 Special SC 7 Peaks Patch]