Climbing the six highest mountains in Southern California with my nine year old son…

Having bagged Mount Whitney last year – at 14,505 feet (4,421 m) the highest mountain in the contiguous United States – it only seemed natural that I’d want to climb (well hike) the biggest peaks in Southern California. After doing the Whitney hike in a day – 22 miles return on challenging terrain with lack of oxygen – I felt that anything was possible. Also, my 9 year old son Tristan got wind of the idea and decided he’d like get in on the action. The list of peaks in reverse order of height are as follows:

1. Mt Wilson

Distance: 14 miles
Elevation: 5710 feet
Vertical gain: 4,200 feet

2. Cucamonga Peak

Distance: 12 miles
Elevation: 8,859 feet
Vertical gain: 4,300 feet

3. Mt San Antonio (Mt Baldy)

Distance: 10.2 miles
Elevation: 10,068 feet
Vertical gain: 3,900 feet

4. San Bernadino Peak

Distance: 16.5 miles
Elevation: 10,649 feet
Vertical gain: 4,702 feet

5. Mt San Jacinto

Distance: 11.4 feet
Elevation: 10,834 feet
Vertical gain: 4,702 feet

6. Mount Gorgonio

Distance: 17.3 miles
Elevation: 11,503 feet
Vertical gain: 5,840 feet

I’d been hiking with Tristan on various local trails and hills but nothing too extreme. I doubt we had ever done anything more than five miles. A few weekends ago we’d hiked Los Pinos peak in Orange County (4,555 feet – the fourth highest mountain in OC). I know, the fourth highest mountain in the OC is a bit ‘9th man on the moon’, although not a walk in the park for a young boy. To give you some idea of scale Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in Britain, is 4,409 feet. To be fair, on the Los Pinos hike we’d driven quite a way up, I’d say the return hike was approx five miles so not the longest ascent in the world. Although a healthy jaunt in the high chaparral of California. I think this little jaunt piqued Tristan’s interest. I sensed a burgeoning interest in the wilderness, geology and the facts and figures of mountains. When I told him he’d climbed higher than the highest mountain in Britain he was very excited and I seemed to have opened the adventurers door.