San Gorgonio Peak via Fish Creek

I love the views here. Not much water. Probably gold there. Good for hiking around. Pleasant place. Good for just stopping by and enjoying the place. Picnic, hike.

I wouldn’t consider myself a fan, which is why this hike gets a 3. I’m sure many of you would love to be told from the ranger that the Vivian Creek trail is over on permits and this is the next best option… only to then be sent 38 miles further in driving… to drive uphill on a DIRT road for 10 miles of rock (in your low clearance Audi)… to then get there and hike 11.4 (according to the ranger map guide) up.
Well, we’ve done some good hikes in the past. Whitney takes the cake. Half Dome next month… but, this one… okay… instead of being such a pessimist, let me highlight the good stuff:
1. It definitely wasn’t crowded.
2. Historical point about halfway with airplane shrapnel.
3. First few miles are easy-​breezy
4. Not too tough, except the length… which, if you’re a hiker, it’s not always better to be longer.
5. The views would be nice, minus the smog-​fog.
6. The little bitty American flag at the top. Man… couldn’t even make a plaquard. (excuse me if there is one, but I didn’t see one and wasn’t about to hike around a bunch of boulders to find one either).
7. Camping in one of the many campgrounds would’ve been better.
We expected a 16 miler by hiking Vivian, but had to settle for this 22er (according to the ranger, cyberspace says all kinds of different stories…) which meant longer driving (BOOOO) and longer walking with less elevation gain. Same peak, I guess… but sometimes the peak is not the most amazing part!
Advice:
1. Hike Vivian instead? Can I say that? And if you do hike Vivian, it will be more crowded, higher elevation/​shorter distance, same peak, harder to get permit (but you can get permits by visiting website/​calling).
but… if you still want to hike Fish Creek…
2. Drive a truck or SUV.
3. Sunscreen.
4. Water. There is fresh water, but it’s not a ton and it’s mostly within the first 3 – 4 miles of the hike only.
5. Ibuprofen for altitude. Coming straight from sea-​level to 11,500 can get to you a bit.
6. Flip-​flops for the ride home. C’mon… you all know what I’m talking about!!!
7. Money for Taco Bell in Corona. :)

So yesterday I came up here to hike to the summit I came up from the Vivian creek side and what an amazing climb however I don’t recommend going during the monsoon season since I was caught in nasty thunderstorm and got drenched. The trail seemed very well maintained with not a whole lot of foot traffic. I did have to pick up a wilderness permit to go up it was free which is nice. Next time I will go up In May or early June to avoid the storms.