The Flora of the PCT
Section C. The San Bernardino Mountains
RT Hawke, Shaun Hawke and Tom Chester Fig. 1. Pictures to be added. Introduction
Trail Sections With Links to the Plant Checklists
Introduction See The Flora of the Pacific Crest Trail: Overview for an Introduction to these plant checklists.
This section of the trail starts on the north side of I-10, traversing a residential area until it gets to the Cottonwood trailhead (elevation 1850 feet). The trail then proceeds through Gold Canyon past the windmill farms. It enters the Whitewater drainage, then the Mission Fork drainage in which it climbs up the south-east side of the San Bernardino Mountains. It reaches a high point of 8600 feet and stays in the conifer forest as it traverses the range. The trail slowly descends as you head eastward in the mountain range and changes to chaparral. The trail then follows Deep Creek drainage for a while before passing by Silverwood Lake. The elevation at the end of this section at Interstate 15 is 3000 feet. Table 1 gives the subsections of the trail, with the name linked to the online plant guide when the guide is available.
Fig. 2. Trail Map for the PCT through the San Bernardino Mountains, from USDA Forest Service Interactive Map.
Trail Sections With Links to the Plant Checklists The Section Description name will be linked to the plant checklists as they become available.
The C sections were renumbered in 2014, and hence the target of the links may still have the old numbering system.
Table 1. Sections of the PCT in the San Bernardino Mountains
Section
DesignatorSection Description (linked to checklist) Length
(miles)Elevations (feet) Min Max Range C1 I-10 to Cottonwood trailhead 2.3 1360 1840 490 C2 Cottonwood trailhead to Whitewater Canyon 6.8 1840 3210 1370 C3 Whitewater Canyon to Mission Springs Trail Camp at road 1N05 21.0 2285 8115 8115 C4 Road 1N05 (near Mission springs trail camp) to Rainbow Road 9.6 8115 8100 8635 C5 Rainbow Road to road 2N01 5.3 8100 7885 8635 C6 Road 2N01 to Highway 18 10.4 7885 6829 7885 C7 Highway 18 to Van Dusen road 3N09 8.9 6829 7260 7630 C8 Van Dusen road 3N09 to road 3N14 10.7 7260 6510 7755 C9 Road 3N14 to Deep Creek Bridge (near Splinter’s cabin) 12.8 6510 4580 6510 C10 Deep Creek Bridge (near Splinter’s cabin) to Highway 173 15.9 4580 3190 4580 C11 Highway 173 to Highway 138 (Silverwood lake exit) 15.4 3190 3395 3580 C12 Highway 138 (Silverwood lake exit) to Interstate 15 13.6 3395 3000 4160 The elevation profile of segments C1 through C12 is shown in Fig. 3.
Fig. 3. The approximate elevation vs. distance for the PCT in the San Bernardino Mountains from south to north (east to west in most of the area)
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Copyright © 2012-2015 by RT Hawke, Shaun Hawke and Tom Chester.
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Comments and feedback: Tom Chester
Updated 28 May 2015.