We were near Poopout Hill which I believe is next to Slushy Meadows near Mt. San Gorgonio in the San Bernadino National Forest in Southern California. It was a several mile hike up from the closest place we found to park our car.
However, my son's wife was from Brazil and had never been in the mountains of California and had never had an Alpine experience. So my son and I were anxious for her to experience the streams and plants and animals and birds above 5000 feet in elevation. Though Mt. San Gorgonio nearby was over 11,000 feet and and the highest of all southern California peaks we were only trying this time to show her he beautiful alpine meadows and streams.
We left late in the day on our hike after having a difficult day getting there on Interstate 10 from the Palm Springs area and then had a hard time finding the right road to meet up with the trail toward Mt. San Gorgonio as neither my son or I had been up it for over 10 years(even though I had climbed Mt. San Gorgonio when I was 22 in the winter in 1970).
So because we didn't reach the Slushy Meadows area I believe it is called near Poopout Hill? until sunset my son's Brazilian wife was just really enjoying the place and all the beauty. However, then it began to get dark and she then realized there was no electricity, buildings or bathrooms for about 5 to 10 miles from our location. At this point she began to get scared because of never having been in the wilderness in the dark so far from civilization before. Since both my son and I had grown up camping weekends in very remote mountain, desert, and beach locations we didn't think anything of it but she started to get hysterical because this was a completely new experience for her. The sound coming out of her sounded like a dying rabbit and I had to tell her this would only bring mountain lions so she needed to be quiet. This upset her even more but my son and I finally understood just how out of her element and afraid she was. It would be like a person who has never scuba dived to be suddenly in the ocean with sharks. Even with experience for me as a life long Scuba diver and snorkeler I get out of the water if the shark or sharks are bigger than I am just as a matter of course. I learned this over the years. However, if you have weapons and divers are in a circle with their backs toward each other it might be different.
Anyway, we gave her her own flashlight to hold as I had brought 3 along and my son had one too. We also brought water and protein bars and warm clothes and hats and gloves as even in the summer it can get very cold very quickly at that altitude(about 4000 feet to 9000 feet). Finally we got back to our car and our drive back to the desert at about 9 pm that evening. We were all tired and grateful to be back where it was warm once again. But there is nothing like the clear aired alpine experience with virgin streams and wilderness untouched by any but hikers and no roads at all there in the wilderness.
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