On Tuesday, July 18, 2000, I took the day off work and one of my hiking partners (Richard) accompanied me to Cucamonga Peak. My partner lives in Thousand Oaks, so it is a major event for him to get out of bed at 0 dark 30 to drive 70 miles to my house for a hike, so we decided to make this what we consider a serious hike.

Richard is a gadget man in the finest since of the word, and can always be counted on to bring along and array of electronic gadgets. Today was no exception, and attached to his fully loaded pack were GPS, digital camera, thermos of coffee, etc.

We set out on the Ice House trail head at about 6:45 AM and the warm winds were already funneling down through the canyons, warning us we were in for a hot day of hiking. Anxious to beat as much of the heat as possible, we walked non-stop to Ice House Saddle arriving at 8:45 AM. We refueled our bodies on salami sandwiches, ghiradelli chocolate and coffee. I took off my boots for a blister check and aired out my socks. We hit the trail again at 9:45 AM.

If you have never been to Cucamonga Peak, there is an additional elevation gain from Ice House Saddle (7700’) to Cucamonga Peak (8859’) of about 1160 ‘. As you leave Ice House Saddle, you realize that you are walking down hill losing elevation. I always think to myself, whoever made this trail had a sick since of humor. When I am tired and on the way back down, I want to walk downhill, not uphill.

Not far from the Saddle we stopped at the Kelly mines (the same Kelly from Kelly’s Camp on the way to Ontario Peak), which consists of two caves just off the side of the trail. These are interesting caves, one above the other. What a tough breeds the miners must have been to work in these areas. It was a Kodak moment, then back on the trail.

We pushed on making good time to the Cucamonga Saddle, then started up the switchbacks. Much of the trail is in direct sunlight with no shade, and of course, this was a scorching day. We have found a location on the side of Cucamonga Mountain where you can echo your voice by shouting toward Ontario Mountain. It is fun, and an excuse to rest for awhile.

Finally we reach the Cucamonga Peak sign and turn for the last stretch of trail to the peak. It feels to me like this is the steepest part of the whole hike, the last hundred yards or so. Finally we crest the peak and spot three deer leisurely grazing on manzanita berries. They detect our presence, and quickly leap away. It is fairly clear, and the panoramic view includes the ocean, desert and flatlands. We sat on the BIG ROCK that I’m sure everybody sits on that hike to Cucamonga peak. It overhangs the side of the mountain and from it you are treated to a vista that is unsurpassed.

As we relaxed and ate snacks a lone hiker arrived. He turns out to be an interesting young man that, since his college days, hikes the area a couple of days a week. I gave him my recruitment speech for the AVA.

As planned with my wife in Upland, I began flashing my signal mirror toward my house, where the wife was on vigil in the back yard with a telescope. She spotted my signal and returned a flash with her mirror, which I was able to spot with my monocular. Another fun experiment.

We decided to leave and began the trek down, thank goodness it is downhill now. About a mile into the walk, the lone hiker we had met on the peak ran past us. Oh to be young again. It was mid afternoon and the temperature rose. Oh no! I forgot about having to walk uphill on that cruel stretch of trail! We had started to run low on water and were rationing ourselves until we reached Columbine Springs, just below Ice House Saddle. It was a welcome sight when we finally got there, and we refilled our water bottles and splashed our faces with the cool spring waters.

We ran in to three other people on the way down, all below the Chapman Trail cutoff. We finally reached the parking lot at 3:30 PM, and polished off the rest of our water. It was a wonderful day, heat and all, and we only saw three other hikers all day. We could hardly wait to get home and look at the pictures and start planning our next hike.