San Jacinto Peak via the Skyline Trail, also known as Cactus to Clouds, is an incredibly rewarding day hike. The journey began at the Palm Springs art museum at 0630AM, though I don’t recommend starting so late! Initially, the trail pushes through a desert climate, immediately ascending at a rapid rate. Don’t underestimate the massive gain and desert heat! I was out of water in 4 hours with miles before the first water source. I had to lay on the trail for almost 30 minutes to eat and recover and drink my last sips of water before pushing ahead. We felt the gain of this trail the whole way, as the steep terrain doesn’t let up for about 10 miles! There are very few respites, which begin above 4,500 ft. And the last mile before rest and water at Round Valley and the tramway, is the most brutal mile of the hike. As one hiker we met on the trail put it, “9 miles of Hell, and 1 mile of Hell Hell”. Shortly before this difficult 1 mile push, the terrain transforms. Suddenly we were hiking through trees, soil, rocky terrain, and we saw the first signs of snow. At this elevation, the weather changed and we felt much cooler air between the trees, which was very welcome. We linked up with a couple at this time finished the last push with them through Grubb’s Notch and I was incredibly relieved to do so, as the terrain opened up to Round Valley. We entered the Ranger Station at 1:30PM, pretty exhausted. We walked the ramp to the tram, refilled water, had some food, and bought Gatorade for the 6 mile stretch to the summit. We left the tram at 2:30PM (which I also do not recommend). It was a relatively easy hike compared to what we had just done. Above the Ranger Station and the tram, snow cover was pretty thorough. Though we were lucky that we didn’t posthole at all on the way to the top and we didn’t even need our micro spikes. Trekking poles helped gain some purchase on the ground which was either packed snow or slushy in certain places. We topped out at 5:30PM and with 6 more miles ahead of us, we could not linger long on the summit and had to rush to beat the sunset back to the tram. At 5:47PM we stepped off for our return, using our trekking poles and sliding our way down, falling at times – I was glad that this trail was not very exposed! We arrived back at the ranger station after 8:00PM, in late twilight, with enough light to finish the hike. We made the short walk up to the tram and had dinner and then departed on the last tram down the mountain. Physically exhausted by the end, we climbed one of the highest gain day hike routes in the United States – just 800 vertical feet short of the climb from base camp to Mount Everest! This hike is incredibly rewarding and an enjoyable hike. We got tons of props on the way up for doing C2C from many hikers, rangers, and park employees. What a great start to the six pack of peaks!