Oh Deer Springs to San Jacinto

San Jacinto Summit via Idyllwild & Deer Creek Loop Trail

I completed our last major training hike prior to our Whitney try in October.  We hiked up to Mt. San Jacinto from Idyllwild via the Deer Springs trail.  The map showed 19+ miles roundtrip while our Garmin watches told us we went 20.2 miles.  The route was a lollipop circle with a stem.  It took 14 hours and 25 minutes which was frankly longer than we were hoping for.  Our pace was steady and the weather was again pretty perfect.  A little chilly in the morning and then a little warm towards the mid-late afternoon.  I did not have to use a jacket for the entire trip even at the top.  Our spirits were also much better than on San Gorgonio even though this hike was over 1 hour longer than that one.

We started again shortly after 4 am and hiked 2-3 hours in the dark.  I think of it as hiking in a singularity as you lose all sense of time and distance.  It is as if you get on a treadmill machine and then two and a half hours later you step off the machine and you’re transported to some other place.  I can only imagine what hiking for 6 hours in the dark is going to feel like in two weeks.

We transitioned from the “stem” to the “circle” at Strawberry junction as dawn occurred and there the trail got more rocky.    There was a final push at Little Round Valley campground where we loaded up on energy gels for the last 1000′ in 1 mile.  The final 1000′ or so to the top was among the most difficult we’ve experienced as we had to put the sticks away and climb with our hands on some very large and steep talus.

We finally saw others on the trip who came up shortly after we did.  We took some photos and then prepared ourselves for a very long walk back to the car.  We left around 12:30 pm and got back around 6:30 eventually picking up speed after we got past all the rocks and loose stuff closer to the top.  I was amazed as to how groomed the trail was in the stem part of the hike (the last 4 miles), something I wasn’t appreciating so much in the morning.  Again, we were able to keep the spirits high during this downhill section which will be a necessary skill for Whitney’s descent.