San Jacinto & Newton Drury via Marion Mtn TH

It's crunch time. 2.5 weeks until Rainier!

In continuation for training for Rainier Cary, Katie and I climbed San Jacinto on Saturday. Katie, who lives in Colorado was in town for work and was able to climb with us. She is part of our Rainier team and is an exceptional climber. The 3 of us have climbed together before and we always have a blast. This climb was no different.

We got to Marion Mountain trailhead (near Idyllwild) around 8am. We wanted to get an earlier start but the trailhead is a good 2.5 hours from my place in Pasadena. As we started up the trail we encountered a ton of cut down trees along with a sign labeled "hard hat area". we are unsure what they were doing but we had to go around or climb over many trees. It took us about 4.5 hours to climb the 5 mile trail with 4,500 ft of elevation gain. The trail had just a few patches of snow, just enough for me to periodically hurl snowballs at my climbing partners. There was also enough snow to make the streams flow (enough to filter water at least).

We reached the summit around 12:30 along with a plethora of other people. I think most of them came from the Tram. We only saw a handful of people on our trail. Once on top we ate our pizza and talked with a guy hiking the Pacific Coast Trail. On our way down we decided to climb a neighboring peak, Newton Drury. There was no direct trail so we used our compasses to help navigate our cross country trek. This peak was more enjoyable to climb because there was bouldering and cross country navigation required. After a short time on top we headed back down and met up with the trail 20 minutes later.

Going back down was long and somewhat boring. It was getting pretty warm out so we dunked our hats in one of the running streams. To help us keep our minds from succumbing to boredom we gave each other trail names. Some long distance hikers (not ourselves) give themselves hiking names so we thought it would be fun to give each other names. Some names we gave each other I decline to share, however, here are some of them:

Cary = Sunshine

Katie = sooshka (Russian for pine cone)

Me = Fish (I drink and carry more water than needed)

We finally returned to our car at 5 pm. Then headed to In-n-Out, which is a tradition of ours after each climb.

*Thanks to Cary for taking the photos

Stats:

• Elevation start: 6,300 ft
  
• San Jacinto Pk: 10,800 ft
  
• Newton Drury Pk: 10,160ft
  
• Total Elevation Gain: 4,600 ft
  
• Start: 8am
  
• End: 5 pm
  
• Permit: Self assigned at the ranger station.
  

Weather: Sunny and warm 70's to 80's, cool and windy on top.

Trail conditions: Mostly dirt switch back trails, few snow patches (no snow gear necessary) and a few small running springs. Plenty of shade relief for most of the trail up. Bare on the summit.

Food I Consumed:

• 1 luna bar
  
• 1 Odwalla Bar
  
• 1 Power triple threat bar
  
• 1 bag of peanut m&m's
  
• 6 red vines (thanks Cary!)
  
• Handful of trail mix (with reese's pieces! good call Cary)
  
• Dijerno Pizza
  

View San Jacinto via Marion Mtn 5 16 09 in a larger map