San Jacinto Peak (3'302m

Length: 28.7km
Duration: 9:29hr
Elevation gain/loss: 1'703m

On our third day in California, we drove from Los Angeles to the Mt San Jacinto State Park. As it was the Easter weekend, we made sure to reserve a campsite in advance and we booked a spot at the Idyllwild campground for two nights. The campground was packed with families that spent the weekend there. It wasn't necessarily the most remote campground, but they had showers and the close access to San Jacinto Peak was a big plus.

We started our trailrun at 7:20 in the morning. There was still snow in on the trail in higher elevations, so we wore our gaiters and packet a down jacket to stay warm on the summit. Forecast for the day was super sunny and warm in lower elevations, so it was a great day to summit San Jacinto. We decided to loop around Marion Mountain to the summit, so that we do have a different route going up than down (at least for part of the trail). Up until the junction where the loop starts, the trail was free of snow and we didn't see many people on the trail. Most people that hike up San Jacinto, decide to do so from the other side as the Tramway goes up most of the way.

At the Strawberry Junction, our trail joins the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) and we met a couple of them along the route. All of them were moving North bound (from Mexico to Canada) and after the desert, this is the first time they come into higher elevations. From there on, they would continue to get into the High Sierras further up North. In 2017/18 when we hiked the Sierra High Route (SHR), we met a couple of PCT people as for some sections the SHR is in line with the PCT.

Snow started to be on the trail just after the junction, we were now facing the East side of Marion mountain, so there was more shadow here. As it was still early in the morning, the snow was packed and it was fairly easy to walk on it. After km 12, the trail began to steepen a bit and we put on our micro spikes for better grip. They were definitely very useful in this terrain. Finding the trail wasn't easy as the snow covered the trail and there weren't many visible tracks. Luckily, we had the route on our GPS device and navigated with it.

The final push to the summit was steep and the snow layer was very thick. We had to move slower, but the micro spikes made it comfortable to hike up. We met two other groups that were ascending the mountain, but they moved much slower than us, so that we had the summit for ourselves for at least the first 10min, which was really nice. The view from the top was just incredible, it was such a clear day and we could see into the Palm Springs Valley to the East. It was the weekend of the Coachella festival, but we couldn't quite see the Ferris wheel. We enjoyed the summit for a while before descending down on the other side.

The other side was a bit more steep and facing East, so the snow was getting more and more slushy. There wasn't really a track we could follow, so again we relied on our GPS and on our commons sense of finding a good route. We safely made it down the steep section in the snow. Two groups asked us for directions to get up the mountain and we shared which route we took up. They were heading towards a much steeper section, so I guess it was good that we met them.

There was snow on the trail for another 2km and the trail finding stayed a challenge. The trail was going through the woods and there were many trails by people traveling before us. Over time, the snow disappeared, and the trail was much better to find. At another junction, where the PCT joined our trail again, the trail signs were hidden behind some trees. We did a break at this junction and actually helped two PCT people find the right way, as they didn't see the sign. They were quite happy that they wouldn't head into the wrong direction.

Once back at the start of the loop at Strawberry junction, we mainly ran back the rest of the trail. It was a nice trail, not too steep and the sun was warming us up. We were back at the trailhead by 4:30pm and looked forward to a delicious dinner at the campground.