Sometimes after work, I go home and sleep, and dream of mountains. And sometimes, I decide to skip the sleeping part, and get to a mountain. Scheduled for a crazy adventurous weekend, and my work schedule already all kinds of fucked up, I knew I would be getting little to no sleep. Why sleep when you can adventure, right? 3 destinations, coincidently one after the other, location wise. Would have been pointless to drive back home some 60miles one way. The plan was to camp in our car, or look for a cheap room to nap and shower.
First stop, Riverside Mt. Rubidoux – Trail clean up with Trash Free Earth. Later that day, set up and attend wife’s aunt wedding, about 15 minutes further down Riverside. Sunday, a long 3 hour drive to Schmidt Burro Tunnel near Red Rock Canyon. I should mention the 3 hour drive was already starting from Riverside. I did question myself a few times why did I get myself into such a crazy mess.
Off work, 3:35am, rushed home to make sure all was packed and ready to go. My wife was excited about the weekend, and even though she treasures her sleep, she was down. In fact, she packed all our party clothes, and hiking clothes the night before, as we had no plans to return until Sunday evening. Meeting time for clean up was 7am, and we were about 1hr 10min away. While wife and kiddo slept, I made several trips to bring stuff from and to the car. 4:45am, tried waking up the wife, Elizabeth, and failed. 5 minutes later, failed again. 3rd time was the charm, now 5 minutes to 5am. She got up, showered and got into some hiking clothes. Christopher sometimes gets moody being up so early, “it’s still noche,” he says. This time however, was as smooth as can be. 5:35am, triple checked our gear, everything looked good, time to go. Almost out the door, and I hear rain drops. No problem, luckily we were still home, grabbed our rain jackets. Now, good to go.
First destination reached, ahead of schedule, 15 minutes to spare. The morning was chilly, and light showers would come and go as we sat in the parking lot of Mt. Rubidoux waiting to see signs of our crew. Hopped off our car, tossed on rain jackets, jaw dropped as we approached the large group of volunteers. About 50 people not caring about a lil rain, and looking to make a difference. That was awesome. Motivating.
Trash Free Earth founder, Daisy, provided a brief description of what they do, and introduced her team. They are an awesome group, being the change they wish to see in the world. Definitely click the link and show them some love. She then handed gloves and adviced us to grab buckets for trash and recycles. Kristin, from Hike Inland Empire set up this hike, who also shared info from her group.
Shortly after, we begun making our way to the beginning of the trail, I’d say about 1/4 mile from parking lot. The paved road continues for about 1 1/4 miles, and gains between 400-500 feet to the summit. A walk in the park, literally. The city views are really nice, worth every step as you make your way to the summit. Buckets and grabbers in hand, our mission started; no trash left behind. Christopher took my grabber and started taking care of business.
In 3/4 mile or so, a bridge is reached. A good spot for a nice break or enjoy some history. Look around and check out the posted plaques for info. Also there is a cool watchtower; it is locked. Here, a group pic was taken and the large group was divided into 2. Group A was assigned to clean the bridge area, group B was to keep walking up about 5-10 minutes to the summit of Mt. Rubidoux, where a huge cross stands. The cross can be seen from the freeway, and calls for attention. A set of huge stairs must be mastered before reaching the summit.
We all scattered like ants, only instead of food, carried trash into buckets and bags. My friend Jason went passed the cross, and had a spot to clean all to himself, greedy much. Christopher decided to go to Jason and give him a hand. I followed. Wife also followed. Little pieces of trash everywhere, time to get down and dirty; grabber, hand, grabber, hand, alternating as the small pieces of trash would fall from grabber. We received back-up, more volunteers arrived to assist. 35-40 minutes, all visible trash was removed. Around 8:45am, started heading back to the cross and down the stairs; all volunteers were gathered and a few were sorting out the trash for proper disposal. Christopher spotted the American Flag right above us and wanted to go explore. “Let’s go,” I told him, I’ll follow you.” Wife joined us. The watchtower was right below the flag, maybe about 100 feet away, “awesome ” Christopher said as he started walking in that direction. Snapped a few pics, walked down to the tower than started going back to join our group. Only to realize they were no longer there. Did we take long? We quickly started speed walking trying to catch up. Christopher had a better idea; he wanted to run down the road. I really liked that idea; he started running, I did too. His main goal was to catch up to Jason, however, we ran about 5 minutes and our group was nowhere to be found. He got tired. Walk, rest, ran some more, repeat. Until we started seeing people from our group, but no Jason, we kept running. “I see him,” he said, and ran faster, “Jason, hi, I’m right here,” Christopher said. Jason smiled said “hi” and Christopher was at ease. That only lasted for a few seconds, then asked, “should we keep running?” I grinned a smile and ran next to him closely. Reached the beginning of the trail in no time, and waited for wife and rest of group. Walked back to parking lot, mingled a little, a group photo was taken, and trash was weighed. Surprisingly, trash picked up added to 203lbs. A great morning came to an end as we departed to our next destination; my wife’s aunt wedding.
Our best option was to get a room at a nearby hotel, as the wedding was only about 15 minutes from trail. Not only would we save gas and time, we’d be able to get some sleep instead of driving. I knew I had a long drive the next day, and going back home would have added another 100 miles or so for next day’s drive.
All settled, we decided to book a room nearby. My wife and her mom were coordinating the wedding, and setting everything up. Her mom didn’t want to take the drive back after setting up and coming back to the event, so we went half on the room. It all fell into place.
Quick stop to get breakfast at a mexican restaurant on our way to the venue. Arrived around 12:30noon and quickly we got down to business. Chair covers, table centerpieces, dishware, napkins and last touch ups to turn a hall into a ballroom. Check out Tiffany’s Party Rentals for all your party needs, service is great and prices even better. And the results, just take a peek at some of the events, pictures speak volume
2:45pm All squared away and ready to transition into party mode, we headed to the hotel room to check-in. As soon as the door was opened, my eyes already located the bed, and my body went to it like a feather in the air. While everyone was transforming, Christopher and I took a quick 2 hour much needed nap. My turn to shower, wife woke me up. Water was cold, to fully wake me up. Showered, changed, ready, let’s party. Close to 6pm, we all arrived to the venue. Moments later, guest started to arrive, family members sat in the table next to us, so the chit-chatting began. More and more guest arrived, it was so many I lost count. Not that I was counting though.
Unfortunately, Christopher did not feel so good, and said he started getting a stomach ache. Wife suggested I go back to the room, and come back by 1am to clean up, as the banquet hall had a strict pick up policy. Even though it was a short drive, I decided to sit in the truck hoping Christopher would feel better and get back to the wedding. That, didn’t end up happening, as I layed with him in the backseat of the truck and we were both out for the count. Close to 1:30am, woke up just in time to help pick up and gathered our stuff; plates, napkins, centerpiece bases, linen, chair covers, it all had to go. Some guests were kind to help us. All packed and ready to go, my mother-in-law went home, we went back to the hotel.
Afraid to close my eyes, I layed down and watched wife and kiddo sleep profoundly. About 5 alarms set, within 5 minutes of each other, I knocked out, 2:25am. Only to be back up at 4:30am, leave room by 5. 2 hours of sleep, GOLDEN, i thought.
Plan was to meet Berto in Victorville at 6am, that was about an hour drive from us. From there, we would drive another 2hrs to get to the tunnels. En route and on time, I was feeling good and excited about the adventure ahead. Wife and Christopher slept some more along the way. Rendezvous point reached, gathered up with Berto’s friend, Harold and his family, hit the road.
After a long to what seemed never ending drive, we reached a glitch, a closed dirt road, due to floods, here we would begin making our way up the mountain. Bummed out as can be, but not determined to turn back, Berto followed a detour around the highway. A long drive just turned longer, but hopes of getting to our destination were high in the sky. A great sacrifice if you ask me.
Arrived to the final dirt road, Berto said it would be about 30 miles. A bit worried about my car, as it has some high clearance but not 4X4, decided to go and just wing it. 3 miles in and huge rocks, mud holes and loose dirt became a big obstacle. I was maneuvering like a boss, however my car wasn’t getting any traction. I was mad and disappointed; Berto saved the day. He suggested we ride in his truck, a bit squished but we fit. Car parked, locked, hopped in Berto’s truck.
The road got really rough, and the mud holes deep, though the splashes were fucken amazing. First time being off road in such rugged terrain, I think I was more excited than Christopher, my 6 year old son. A few miles later, 8:17am, arrived to beginning of the Schmidt tunnel. The area was lonely, not a single soul out there that morning.
The 1/2 mile hand-carved tunnel was waiting to be explored, by us. And that is just what we did. Grabbed our packs, kids went in to take a look, came back, “guys, it’s very small,” they said. We took a look, my pack came off, as the entrance is a bit on the narrow side. Tossed some snacks in my pocket, grabbed water bottle, all set. The kids were eager to go into the tunnel, their feet were itching and their patience was wearing thin.
Headlamps strapped on, inside we go. The kids led the way. After about 5-10 minutes, a junction is reached. Yes, another tunnel, inside the tunnel. As if we were not having enough fun already. We decided to go to the right, simply because you can see a speck of light. Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, literally.
Out the tunnel, WOW, talk about rewarding views. We were all in awe. Superb. There’s an old saying, TAKE A PICTURE IT’LL LAST LONGER. and so, we obeyed and snapped a few pics. Back into the tunnel, straight ahead was the junction, to the left is the exit, and straight is the unknown. What did we do, you may ask? Well, I’ll tell you what we did; we did what any explorer would do, went into the unknown. 5 minutes, less than 1/4 mile, the tunnel becomes smaller and smaller and smaller, until, it is a tunnel no more but a dead end. Back we went, at the junction now, turned right to head back to the cars.
Driving back out on the dirt road was as exciting as the drive in. There were multiple small roads though, and we were trying to back trace our route, because my car was somewhere along the way. Found the car, then took on another tunnel, which lead nowhere. Kids loved it anyway.
Hopped in our car, headed back to the paved road. Once there, made a right turn and drove some 20 minutes to Red Rock Canyon State Park, for a quick pit stop and restroom break. The time now 11:13am, we decided to check out the awesome rock formations up close. A small 10 minute walk into wet fresh clay, our shoes were not looking pretty. But then again, we didn’t care much about that. As beautiful as it was, it was also as slippery as can be. My wife slipped, went down, knee souvenir. Kids were slipping too. I tried going up a rock, tried grabbing on to a hard surface that was not as hard as I thought, and down I went, ate it. Hands, knees, and jacket covered in clay. I wasn’t worried, a wash and a wipe down fix, no biggy.
Back to our cars, Berto and Harold were going back the same route as it was closer to their home. Being super tired and having very little sleep, I decided to call it day and drive home a shorter way. As much as I wanted to take the drive through the mountains, I was done, almost on empty on sleep. Farewells to our friends. We departed different directions.
About an hour later, Wife took the wheel, I napped for a few minutes. One last stop, Islands Burgers in Burbank, 45 minutes before getting home. As I joked around with the wife about who was paying the bill, Christopher made up a rule; whoever touches a phone while on the dinner table, pays the bill. In other words, no phones allowed. We have joint accounts, however the no phones rule was a great idea, and went into full effect immediately.
A little past 6pm, we were finally home. All of us took showers, pj’d up, and relaxed. Talked about how crazy and awesome the weekend had been, and concluded that we should do this kinda weekend maybe once every 2-3 months, just add a few more hours of sleep. Another great idea.
A fantastic sleepless weekend, all in the name of adventure and exploring.
PHOTOS & VIDEOS:
Saturday Trail Clean-up
Sunday Exploring
Adventures_of_the_amayas 
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