On my second SC Outfitters excursion of the semester, I had the unique opportunity to discover what it is like to hike in the dark after only an hour of sleep. On October 15, my roommate Karla and I embarked on our second hike of the semester: a sunrise summit of the second highest peak in Southern California, San Jacinto. After meeting at 5pm and driving for what seemed like forever (thanks to LA traffic) and a quickie dinner at In ‘N Out, we arrived at the campsite near the mountain to attempt to sleep before our climb. Unfortunately, by the time we got to the campsite and got ready, we only had enough time for about an hour of sleep. As someone who is obsessed with sleep and rarely gets less than 8 hours, let alone only one, let me just say that waking up at 1am that morning was ROUGH. However, somehow I managed to pack up my lovely, warm sleeping bag and stumble to the van, where it is possible I immediately fell back asleep…
About 20 minutes later, we had driven to the bottom of the Marion Mountain Trailhead and we were hiking by 1:45am. I consider myself in pretty good shape, so I was surprised just how challenging it was to hike at night in the cold. It was definitely worth it though for the incredible views. The moon was bright enough that we didn’t need to use our headlamps and even though we lost the trail a few times, we were able to successfully make it to the top in time for the 6:58am sunrise. The magnificent views and chowing down on a particularly scrumptious peach helped me to forget how absolutely frigid it was at the top (thank god for long johns!). We spent some time admiring the sunset and when the possibility of us all turning into icicles was becoming unnervingly likely, we decided to start the trek back down. The way down seemed to be about 10 times shorter than the way up, probably because we were all practically sprinting, partially because it helped us keep warm, and partially because we all knew that our cozy beds were waiting for us at the bottom (or at least somewhat comfy car seats that could substitute for beds until we made it back to ‘SC…).
The sunrise summit was a once in a lifetime, amazing experience and I am so happy that I decided to go. I’m not sure I would do it again, at least not without a minimum 7 more hours of sleep and a very large parka, but I will never forget it and I am so grateful for the experience!