Galena Peak was the final peak in the San Gorgonio wilderness for Uwe and me to climb. Reviews from previous peakbaggers said it was tough. Those were understatements.
The approach involved a ~300 ft climb up a very steep and loose head wall (Mill Creek Jump-off). After some discussion and analysis we decided to approach via Vivian trail then cross country to the head wall then up Galena. We’d decide how to come down after a look at the head wall. The hike up Vivian trail was a long slog but uneventful. We watered up at High Creek and started the cross country to towards Galena at the top of the switch backs above High Creek Camp. At this point we were actually ~400ft higher than Galena. We dropped 1,600 ft through a heavily brushed area costing us a lot of time and energy. Then we started back up 400 feet to the head wall. Once there we were pretty intimidated by the descent to the west. We had lunch and then quickly scrambled up the remaining very steep 900 ft to Galena Peak.
After a short break on the peak we headed back down. Back at the head wall we pondered several approaches to the descent. Neither of us wanted to backtrack bushwhacking the extra 1,600 ft and 4 additional miles if we had to use Vivien for the return also. This was not going to be easy. One mistake and we would be taking a fast rock elevator 300 ft down. We finally chose a path and took off one at a time so we wouldn’t send rocks down on the other. We descended the steepest part on our butts. Every rock we touched shot down the face. Every inch we crept sent rocks and dust flying. About 1/2 way down we could at least stand and sorta ski down on the debris.
Finally at the bottom we had ~3 miles of boulder hopping down Mill Creek. After a mile or so, water started to flow and we faced water obstacles, including cliffing out at a waterfall. If we weren’t watching every step to prevent spraining or breaking an ankle, we would have enjoyed the beautiful sights. Finally back at the cars, we both concluded this was the toughest hike we’ve done on the Sierra Club 100 list. For fellow hikers, think Mt Williamson on a smaller scale with regards to steepness on loose ground and negotiating rocks and boulders.
Hike stats: ~12 miles, ~5000 ft elevation gain, 11.5 h away from vehicles
(Click on any image to enlarge an image / start slide show. Photos by Jack and Uwe)
Great report and thank you for these pics. Probably some of the last pictures of this area before the Apple Fire shut everything down on Jul 31. Here in Forest Falls we just had our evacuation order lifted after a week of being on edge. I’ve seen the jumpoff reduce grown men to tears – you guys done good, smart approach/exit.