When Will and Ivolunteered for California State Parks Foundationa calendar week ago , we knew that we need to finish the weekend ( or more accurately , take off the week ) with a summit of Mount San Jacinto , the highest peak of the San Jacinto Mountains and sixth most topographically prominent peak of the lower 48 .
Mount San Jacinto is have sex as one of the “ Three Saints , ” the three highest points on the three highest mountain orbit in Southern California ( Mount San Antonio of the San Gabriels and Mount San Gorgonio of the San Bernardinos are the other two ) . What give these mountains so limited is that on a cleared day , you could actually take in the other Saints from the peak or gradient of each one .
Mount San Jacinto was my first ascent of a Saint ( and hopefully not my last ) , but I ’ll admit that we assume the easy room up . It rises to an elevation of 10,834 feet but the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway , combined with a match night of camping in Tamarack Valley , gave us quite a head start to the summit .
hard-core hikers can take the notorious Cactus to Clouds Trail that gain an astounding 10,200 animal foot of elevation over 14 mi from the desert floor in Palm Springs to the alpine acme of San Jacinto ( a vertical half mile more than Mount Whitney , and the not bad summit gain of any trail in the conterminous United States ) , but our path plane that down to just over 1,600 feet of raising gain in only 4 miles . It almost felt like we were cheat !
But despite the unforesightful distance , it was high summer and we decided to start our hike just after sunrise , as the day would sure get hot even at the lofty height .
The toughest part of our trek was the first Roman mile , a continuous acclivity up to Wellman Divide . Even under the refinement of lodgepole pine and Jeffrey pine , I found it to be a swot ( specially after two days of trail edifice with CSPF ! ) .
When we reached Wellman Divide , my legs gave a sigh of relief . It was also the first viewpoint on the hike , so we drench it in for a few minutes while fueling up with a snack . Just across the canyon were Tahquitz Peak and Red Tahquitz , which lie on the westerly incline of the San Jacinto Mountains .
The next part of the boost was on contour , which made it much more easygoing . We come across a duad of deer on the wild flower - filled trail and could see the talkative unripe meadow at Round Valley , the bivouac below ours . In the former morning hour , before the tram started dropping off day hikers , there was not one other person on the trail .
As we approach the peak , we fade the Mount San Jacinto Peak Shelter . The I. F. Stone shanty was establish in 1933 by the Civilian Conservation Corps and since then , it ’s relied on other civilians ( mostly hikers ) to keep it .
Inside we found a few bunk bed and an emergency rations cabinet that held transcribed food and first aid supplies , all of them donated by passersby .
From the hovel , we had a final boulder hop up a quarter Swedish mile to the point of Mount San Jacinto , or San Jac as it ’s affectionately called . Naturalist John Muir once write , “ The purview from San Jacinto is the most sublime spectacle to be found anywhere on this earth ! ”
tolerate on the superlative put up serene 360 ° views of the San Jacinto Wilderness , but not for long .
The longer we lingered at the top , the quicker the cloud seemed to move in until we were standinginsidea cloud . What look like a grey-headed sky here is in reality a swarm enveloping us !
A remote roll of thunder reminded us that we ’d better get a move on down the pile . Though it never ended up raining on us , the tune was humid and sense of summer monsoon . We headed back to camp , packed up , and hiked out to the tramcar post . Within minutes , we were whisked away from the thick-skulled green wilderness of San Jacinto to the dry moth-eaten desert of Palm Springs — tattle about a finish shock after three days in the woods !
