Sunday, July 25

Backyard Backcountry

This weekend we did something pretty amazing and a first for me...we hiked a total of 22 miles in the San Bernardino mountains to the summit of San Gorgonio, which is the tallest mountain in Southern California, 11,500 feet! We got the invite from our friends Landon and Lindsay and couldn't refuse the offer to take the challenge. It was an AMAZING experience- definitely stretched me physically-but at the end it felt so great to have said we did it. Couldn't have done it with two better people...the L's are awesome! Here's the "before" photo
Ready to tackle the Friday hike...7 miles into Dollar Lake to camp for the night.


This sign was our first pit stop. It was great hiking up in the mountains because it's so cool temperature wise up there. It was about 95 degrees in Loma Linda when we left and by the time we started our ascent it was about 80 degrees. We had perfect hiking weather the whole time!

On the trail...


Lindsay and I taking a breather as the sun was setting. I was so proud of the two of us and I had so much fun sharing this experience with her! We've agreed we somehow got split up at birth because we're so alike. :)

It was our first time using our new REI tent. We've been excited to use it and we were happy to finally break it in this weekend.

Jared taking his "bath" in Dollar Lake on Saturday morning. It was a small, mountian lake, and very pretty to wake up to!

Getting to the summit...it was an incredible view! I didn't ever think I'd get to see Southern California from this angle! We took off from camp Saturday morning around 9:30 for the 4 mile trek to the top.

Group photo at the top

The Adams at the top!

On the way down we got involved in a rescue mission with the park rangers...a man and his two dogs needed assistance down the mountain (the dog Landon is carrying had paws so torn up that he was unable to walk) and we joined with some other hikers and helped get the dogs down. It was a neat experience and I was really impressed with all the guys that pitched in and carried the dog all those miles down the mountain!




The "after" photo. Tired, but energized by what we had just done...sore, but feeling strong...dirty, but not dirty enough to head straight to Eureka burger for the biggest, juiciest, fattiest burgers on the menu to reward ourselves for a job well done. :)

Loved this adventure...loved the challenge...loved doing it with Lan and Linds and loved the feeling of knowing we had just done this together!

4 comments:

mmsnyder said...

wow! how fun... and looks beautiful there! way to go! i don't know if my "asthma" could have handled that ;)

Emilie said...

That's impressive...looks like you had a blast, too!

Anonymous said...

WHAT A BLAST! You can check that off your bucket list :)
Mom xoxo

Anonymous said...

Way to go J & J and L and L! That was an amazing feat and the pictures are fantastic! Seems like there's a new adventure every weekend. So glad you're having a great time and can take a break from the stress of school and work!
Dad