10,691' San Bernardino East Peak is located within the San Gorgonio Wilderness on the western end of the San Bernardino Mountains. It is the second peak, in a series of nine peaks over 10,000 feet, that lie west to east on the San Bernardino crest/ridge, starting with San Bernardino Peak and ending with San Gorgonio Mountain, the highest point in Southern California.
On some of the San Gorgornia Mountain trips we climbed these nine peaks to earn the 9 Peaks Award. Those trips are not listed here.
I climbed San Bernardino East Peak solo on May 7-8, 1960 on a roundtrip on the South slope of the range from Forest Falls via the Falls Creek and San Bernardino Divide Trails. This route takes you up to Dollar Lake Saddle and then along the ridge past Shields and Anderson Peaks to San Bernardino East Peak. I continued to the saddle between San Bernardino Peak and San Bernardino East Peak to camp. There was snow on the ridge.
The original Falls Creek Trail, which I used, was east of the Momyer Creek Trail. local homeowners shut down the lower slopes of that trail in the 1960s because they didn't want hikers traversing their land. After that, Boy Scouts created the connector trail from Momyer to the old Falls Creek Trail, which is described here for current use.
You start out on the Momyer Creek Trail and at about 2.7 miles you enter the San Gorgonio Wilderness shortly after which you reach a trail junction. The Momyer Creek Trail continues left to the San Bernadino Mountain Ridge. While it is shorter to the ridge it is also much steeper than the Falls Creek Trail route. At the junction go right on the Alger Creek Trail across to the Falls Creek Trail. There is camping at Alger Creek.
You continue past the Alger Creek camp area to the Dobbs Cabin site and Dollar Lake Saddle. At about 5.1 miles from the start there is a trail junction where the Dobbs Camp trail goes right about half a mile to Dobbs Camp and the Falls Creek Trail continues to the left. Click here for excellent information and pictures for this route.
Some information on the Dobbs Cabin Camp to Dollar Lake four mile trail here.
San Bernardino East Peak Falls Creek Trail Route Map
