Snow Levels from the recent storms got pretty low on the Santa Ana Mountains. From our estimates that we saw today, while hiking to Los Pinos Peak via the Main Divide road off of Ortega Highway, they got as low as 3,500 feet to 3,000 feet. The snow that was in the 3,000 to 3,500 foot mark was melting fast during the day and most of the good snow is above 4,000 feet. There was about 3 - 4 inches of snow on the Santa Ana Mountains above 4,000 feet and my guess is that closer to Modjeska Peak (5,496 ft.) and Santiago Peak (5,687 ft.), they got about half a foot of snow. Here are a few pictures from the hike and a post will follow soon. With the cold nightly temperatures forecasted this week, the snow above 5,000 feet might last for the entire week and thus it might be a good time to hike to the top of
Saddleback Mountain if you want to see some snow.
The snow was beautiful yesterday! My dad and I were cold and wet at Mt. Pinos peak but we made it down Bell Ridge trail into Robinson Ranch just after sundown. Probably around 14 miles round trip. Was like a different hike on the way down because so much snow melted in just a few hours. Got some great photos of a winter wonderland in Orange County though. Like your blog...good resource! Post one of the pictures I took of you guys at Pinos peak. See you guys out on the trail!
ReplyDelete- Jamie
Jamie,
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking the picture of Ashley and I on the summit. Glad to hear that you and your dad had a great hike.