Monument Peak #1

13 November 1993

By: Luella Fickle

Luella Fickle, Gordon Lindberg

Seven persons met at Anaheim Hills Carpool by 5:30 AM. We drove to Kawayii Point on the Sunrise Hwy and left Dick Reynolds' car. We then drove to Desert View Picnic Area to start our hike. There was a light dusting of snow on the ground. The Kellog Oaks were golden, the Yellow Pines were dark green. We had a few clouds. By the time we had climbed Monument the snow had melted and the wind had dried the trail. We climbed via a pole line to the road and followed the road to the summit. We were enjoying the views of Whale Peak, Granite Mtn, and Garnet Mtn from the PCT when I heard a shout from the rear. Dick and I turned around and went back. The rest were standing around Brad. He'd fallen when a rock rolled out from under him on a level trail. When he stood up, it was obvious that the hike couldn't continue as planned. We had lunch where the accident happened, while Erich went north and I went south on the PCT to find the easiest access to the highway. Erich found that it was only about 3/4 mile to a place where the PCT was about 50 yards under the highway across the street from the Al Barhar Camp. This point to the pole line access to Monument Peak is about 2 1/2 miles via the PCT and a nice alternate to the normal route up Monument. Dorthy Danziger acted as helper and walked beside Brad as we hiked slowly north. Erich went back to the Al Barhar Camp and got a ride to our car. When we saw him drive into the parking lot, I sent Dick Reynolds ahead so that he and Erich could retrieve Dick's car. We were to the cars by about 1:30. Dorothy, Dick, and Robert Evans left for home. Erich, Gordon, Brad, and I went back to Desert View to get Brad's car. Erich drove Brad's car while I drove ours. We decided that the Kaiser Hospital in Anaheim Hills was almost as close as San Diego and Brad has Kaiser so we drove north to Lakeview Hospital. After getting the emergency process started I took Gordon to the carpool point near by. Erich, Brad, and I were on the way to Brad's home in Studio City by 10:00 PM - 5 hours to get him in a cast! Erich and I got back to Anaheim by 1:30 Sunday morning.