San Bernadino Peak Loop via Forsee Creek Trail and San Bernardino Peak Divide Trail(edit)

Sights to See

• San Bernardino Peak
• Limber Pine Spring

Rate this Hike

★★★★★


Temecula Dan 3 years, 1 month ago
Solo day hiked 6/19/25 – Clockwise loop up the Forsee Creek Trail, east on the San Bernardino (SB) Peak Divide Trail to Shields Flat, then reversing to head west across Shields-Anderson-SB East & SB peaks and down the John’s Meadow Trail at the “wheelbarrow junction” for the return to Forsee Creek TH. The lower Forsee trail was in better shape than I had expected while the upper has visibly recovered very little since I hiked it shortly after the 2020 El Dorado Fire. However, several Lodgepole and Limber Pine saplings are growing just inside the burn area so the soil recovery must be progressing. It reminds me of watching South Fork recover over the last decade from the 2015 Lake Fire – a decades vs years process, especially for the trees. Once above Trail Fork Springs on the Anderson Spur to SB Peak Trail, it was back to a nice forest with the Shields and Anderson Flat campgrounds in great shape with nice and spacious campsite areas. I turned around at Shields Flat and found the use trail that headed west up the ridge to the “fun to climb” talus stack which forms the top of Shields Peak. After descending the NW side on a use trail that rejoined the SB Peak Trail, I headed west to the cairned start of the Anderson summit trail on the left, following it to the top. Even though Anderson is a nicely wooded summit, it still has a great northern view toward Big Bear Lake, although a little hazy on this trek. Heading down the NW side of Anderson for a minute put me back on the SB Peak Trail heading west toward San Bernardino Peak East (which is just off the trail). SB East has a nice eastern ridge view to San Gorgonio Mtn and far reaching southern views overlooking Mill Creek, Forest Falls and the valleys. After continuing on and then up SB Peak, the views became very hazy. Stopped by the Henry Washington Survey Monument on the way down to Limber Pine Spring which was flowing nicely, and then down to the start of the John’s Meadow Trail at the wheelbarrow junction. The first quarter mile of John’s required continuous route finding but the rest was quite intuitive as it still is a reasonably defined contour trail that is more like a use trail than a trace trail, IMHO (I find cross country treks/Sierra approaches offer the next level of adventure/excitement versus maintained/curated trails if you’re willing to plan/map the route beforehand). Surprisingly, there were several strong flowing water sources on this route in small, oasis like settings (marked on my gpx route). After stopping for a trailside lunch on the way down, I came across a doe with her very small fawn (less than two feet high) which was a nice but very short encounter as they sprinted up the canyon. It’s been a few years since I’ve taken John’s Meadow and I had a great time! Highly recommend this clockwise loop. Logged 19.4 mi /31.2 km & 4752 ft / 1448.4 m with Gaia
★ ★ ★ ★ ★

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FreshIvy7459 3 years, 8 months ago
Would not recommend this hike currently. We started yesterday morning at 8am anti-clockwise following the reopening of the mountain. The first part of the trail up to the fork from angelus oaks was very difficult as the trail was in very bad condition and non existent for large chunks. It was all very badly burnt. We didn’t want to go back down that way so we had come up so we contiunued upward hoping the trail would get better.. it didn’t. The snow and lack of trail made it very hard and we made it to the summit late. By the time we were up there it was 5pm. The ridge trail was impossible to find because of snow and so after some scrambling towards east San Bernardino peak and the light fading we decided to divert down the other side of the mountain on the Momyer creek trail. We do not know the conditions of the descent on the second half of the loop after Anderson peak but if it’s anything like the way up, would not recommend it. We also encountered possible mountain lions on the momyer creek trail. Be careful and atleast wait till summer!
★

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