Murphy’s Law in Effect on Mount San Jacinto

The plan was to do the 19 mile hike on Deer Springs Trail from Idyllwild to the peak and then go down the Tram and Wellman junction to connect with Deer Springs Trail and make a tear-drop type loop back to the trailhead. The plan was also to start the hike at 5:30 AM, but things do not always go as planned, and in this hike, things never seemed to go as planned.

I woke up at 3:00 AM and after a bowl of oatmeal and a protein shale, started driving at 3:30 AM towards the park station to fill out a permit using the GPS address from the HikingGuy website. The drive was supposed to be about 54 miles and 1 hour and 20 minutes. At around 4:00 AM, my GPS notified me of a road closure which added about 30 miles and 40 minutes to the drive, meaning that I didn’t get to the park station until after 5:30 PM. After filling out a permit, I then used the address from the HikingGuy website for the trailhead. Unfortunately this took me to a closed off gate which would have led to the wrong trailhead. After driving around the side roads for a while in a fruitless attempt to find a way past the gate, I drove back to the park station and looked at the map to realize that the trailhead I wanted to go to was nowhere near that area. Using the map, and the friendly directions of some people walking along the road, I was able to find the trailhead for Deer Springs which is right across from the nature center about 0.6 miles away from the station. This was the first time the HikingGuy website had given me an incorrect GPS address. So the hike that was supposed to start at 5:30 AM started closer to 7:00 AM.

Nonetheless, I started the climb and made pretty good time getting to the top. I was able to complete each of the first 6 miles in less than 27 minutes per mile which was the average I wanted to maintain heading to the peak. The last 3 miles were a bit steeper and more technical however, so my pace slowed a bit, but I was able to make it in about 4 hours. On the way, I stopped at the emergency hut and made a contribution of a bottle of water for any thirsty hiker who may have been in need of supplies (I always carry extra bottles of water just in case I run into anybody who might need it). I then continued the scramble to the top and reached the peak and the amazing views that were at least as good as advertised. Unfortunately, on the scramble down from the peak, I slipped and cut the palm of my right hand on the rocks. It was not a serious cut, but did bleed a fair amount. I also had a little trouble finding the trail and had to scramble back up and over until I found the emergency hut that put me on the right path.

After descending down the Tram and Wellman Junction trails I came to a sign that had Deer Springs Trail and Idyllwild pointing in different directions. I consulted the turn-by-turn directions from the HIkingGuy website, which said to follow the path to Deer Springs Trail. This was the right move, but after a bit more of hiking, I came to Strawberry Junction and saw another sign that had Deer Springs Trail and Idyllwild in different directions. I followed the sign for Deer Springs Trail again, which was the wrong move (In fairness to the hiking guy, he does have explicit directions and an arrow pointing you in the right way, but the math in his turn by turn directions did not add up to me as he said he reached this sign at 15.7 miles in, and the sign says 4.8 miles left, which would add up to 20.5 miles, but according to him the hike was 19.5 miles long). After about 1.7 miles of hiking in the wrong direction (and mostly uphill again, which had me worried) I came to a clearing with signs all pointing in directions I did not want to go, and so I consulted the turn by turn directions from the HikingGuy website and realized my wrong move at the last junction. I then mad the very angry (angry only at myself) backtrack walk to the junction and found the trail that would lead me back to my car. So the planed 19 mile hike ended up being about 22.5 miles and I completed it in just under 9 hours. Once back at the car, I gulped my last bottle of water and began the 2 hour (due to the road closure) drive back to Riverside, making it just time to help teach the SCUBA class starting that night at 6:00 PM.