Did Someone Say Alternate Route?

This was my 3rd summit this year of San Jacinto Peak. It was also my 32nd summit over all from my eighth different trailhead.

Since I was camping at the Thousand Trails Campground in Idyllwild-Pine Cove, I thought why not do San Jacinto again. Only this time from an alternate starting route/trailhead. The campground actually had an unnamed trail that fed right into the Deer Springs Trail. It was roughly 1.75 miles from my start point to the Deer Springs trail and it came out about .6 miles from Strawberry Junction.

The 1.75-mile trail was easy to follow and had only a few obstacles that presented minor issues. It had obviously been used by someone recently as I was following someone else’s tracks. There was also some trail maintenance that taken place. Not to mention, I had count over three dozen Cairns that had been left (mostly on the second half of the 1.75 trek.

After making it to Strawberry Junction, the trail was as easy as ever. I didn’t encounter any snow until right around the Fuller Ridge Trail at almost 9,000 feet. Mostly just a dusting of what remained from the storm a few days before. And even near the summit there was not a significant amount of snow on the ground or on the trail. I carried micro-spikes with me, but had no reason to pull them out.

I didn’t see a single hiker on my ascent or my descent; however, there were several hikers that came up to the summit while I was there (I spent nearly 1.5 hours at the summit) from either the Tram or C2C (I think 3 or 4 C2C hikers).

Anyway, another great day on trail and at the summit of my favorite SoCal Peak.