Mt. San Jacinto

On Sunday my buddy Cary and I took the ariel tram up to Round Valley and hiked up to San Jacinto Peak. This is the easiest route to the top, however, still quite a work out for me. It was a beautiful day, the sun was out and there was even a little snow on the trail as well. Down in Palm Springs it was 102 degrees out but up on the mountain (8400 feet high) it was a nice 70 degrees. Cary and I look forward to doing some snow camping up there in the winter time. It should be perfect for snow shoeing, photography and camping as well. The view at the top was spectacular. I think my favorite part was looking down of the windmill farms just off hwy 10.

Next time I do this hike I will start from Idyllwild and trek to the summit in a day or maybe turn it into a backpack trip. It is about 15 miles round trip with 4-6 thousand feet elevation gain. We ran into a few people doing it as a 1 night trip and they said it was awesome.

The tram costs 21 dollars for a round trip ticket. It took about 10 minutes to get up the mountain (8400 feet). Tram runs every half hour. There is a general store and restaurant at the top for food if need be.

Trip info:

• Start 8:30 (reached summit @ 12, took a 15minute break)
• End 2:30
• Elevation start 8400
• Elevation Summit 10800
• 11 Miles (round trip)