Our sixth and final peak for 2018!!! We made a weekend of it with our spouses. The little town of Idyllwild is a perfect place to visit. They have a new brew pub and a relaxing vibe. We arrived Friday afternoon, visited, relaxed and set our alarms. Stacy and I hit the trail around 6:30 a.m. Saturday morning.

The ascent starts immediately and stays that way for most of the way. It is a leg/butt burner but so worth it. The trail is beautiful. The forest canopy, the dense foliage, the deepening blue skies, and the trail being on the west side of the mountain, makes this a favorite of mine now.

The trail does meander through a flat campground for a nice reprieve before the last miles to the summit. There are two semi-decent port-o-potties there. Nice albeit a little strange. The scramble over the rocks at the top was not a mere scramble for me but a Herculean effort on my body’s part to hoist it and my pack over large rocks/boulders to the absolute peak. When I finally made it to the top, I turned to look towards Palm Springs and my breath caught. The view sent me reeling. It was breathtaking and a bit frightening since I finally felt the height of the second tallest mountain in Southern California and I was on it!

We ran into the very cool hikers, Dea and Stephanie, whom we met when we first started before they motored past us. We exchanged congrats before they headed back down. There were quite a few hikers at the top. It was a party vibe! Stacy and I shared a Timeless Pints Huckleberry Oatmeal Stout to celebrate. A beer never tasted so good!

The hike down is a foot/knee/hip crusher. When we finally made it to the bottom – and before dark! Yay! – our wives, Cristi and Dana, had champagne chilled and a scrapbook for each of us. They had spent the day putting together our scrapbooks with pictures from the first five hikes of the challenge with room for San Jacinto! It was one of the sweetest gifts ever!
Mount San Jacinto: 10,834ft peak;
Elevation gain: Approx. 4,600+ ft
Miles: 11.4-mile up and back
Time: 12 hours
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