Round Mountain July 2019

I started out to bag three more of the San Bernardino peaks on my list. It didn’t sound like a hard day but I didn’t anticipate the heat in the north San Bernardino Mountains. We had been at the cabin in mild 70° days and 50° nights, so I was not prepared for the desert side of the San Bernardino’s. I was feeling good to bag Round Mountain, Luna Mountain and Rattlesnake Peak when I started. After bagging Round Mountain, at about 4 miles I begin to feel the heat affects. I had already consumed my 2 L of water and it was getting dizzy, so I found the only shade around underneath the big thorn tree where I rested for about 20 minutes. I decided to forgo the other two mountains, heading back to the car.
When I got there, I saw that I had a flat. Just what I needed after a long hot morning and my energy sapped.I had not changed a flat in probably 30 years, so I looked in the owner’s manual to find out where the tools were and how to lower the spare under the car. There are 20 pages in the owner’s manual describing how to safely buckle a seat belt (which any moron knows) and one hidden 3-sentence paragraph on where to find and unfasten the tools, lower the spare and change a flat. There wasn’t a reference even in the index on fixing a flat. So, after about an hour struggle, I finally change the flat. Of course, the spare had not been checked for air in years, so it was halfway flat as well, but I made it back to the cabin. This gives me 45 of the 61 San Bernardino peaks. I’ll have to go back out into this desert environment and knock off Luna and Rattlesnake Mountains later. (Click on any picture for slide show)