Mt San Jacinto #16/18

cheriej2042

This is a serious mountain at least on the Marion Trail to the peak. I had attempted this mountain in Feb but on the Deer Springs trail which is longer but not as steep but had to turn back due to snow depth. Trail was 12.73 miles out/back with 4,498 of elevation gain to the peak at 10,834 ft. The first 2.5 miles almost killed me it was so steep and relentless plus having to climb over several large downed trees. There are gigantic boulders too.




Once I got to a more level area I switch backed through some manzanita with clear views of the surrounding mountains. Then you come to Little Round Valley which has campsites but it still had snow patches and no one was there





From here several trails converge so you start seeing more people and even some PCT hikers. Once you get to the junction of the peak trail you even get people who took the tram up from Palm Springs who want to hike to the summit. It’s fairly straightforward to get to the summit with some rock scrambling at the end.





Someone stole the summit sign(again since someone saw it two weeks ago) so I got the marker instead


As I was coming down from the summit on the rock scramble I actually for the first time ever ran into someone I know. We had hiked together in Nepal to Everest Base Camp. She was hiking part of the PCT.

Everyone talks about how John Muir thought the views from the summit were “the most sublime” and I’m sure they were in his time. For me looking down into sprawling Palm Springs or around at the mountains I felt like the “view” wasn’t that special. I know Deer Springs trail at 19 miles is more scenic and I’ve heard the loop that goes through Wellmans Divide is spectacular so I will have to do that soon before summer crowds take over.