Coming from Los Angeles, my hiking partner and I decided it best to drive out the evening before our hike and grab a good night’s sleep in a hotel for optimal rest. I won’t go into details of our HORRIBLE experience, but I will say that nobody should ever stay in Hemet! I knew nothing about this town prior to our arrival. Only that it was convenient to the road up to the trailhead. I wish I had done some research prior. I’m just happy we survived and made it to the hike the following morning. You live and you learn I guess.
Moving on, we were up and on our way to get coffee bright and early. Quick stop at the ranger station for our permits and back on the windy roads to the trailhead. We scored the last parking space in the lot across from the entrance! Our luck was changing!
I had read up on this hike and knew the first 2 or so miles would be steep. We got right into it, powering through at a great pace of 30min/mi. Before we knew it we were halfway up! Each time it evened out a bit we picked up pace, trying to make great timing to the top. One thing I learned on this hike is that the iHeart app is completely unreliable! I would check it to see our mileage, and it was always much further than expected. By the end, the meter read 17.5mi, on a trail that’s said to be 11-13mi. This made it very frustrating to sort how much further we had to go but eventually I gave up and just powered through without a clue. We made it to the peak in 5 hours. Not as good of timing as I had hoped but better than I actually expected. I have bad knees and have been training and doing PT to help improve my hikes. I truly noticed a difference on this trail!
After 30 mins at the top, photos and snacks, we were happy to be on our descent. That false sense of “the hard work is over” never fails to amaze me. I know descending is never easy, but it’s always more painful than I imagine! By the end of the trail, we ran to our car just to be off of our feet that much sooner!

The most satisfying part of these hikes for me is that massive meal you earn at the end! We stuffed our faces at a local pub in Idyllwild and hit the freeway home, making in back to LA by 7:30. Aside from the hotel slip up, all around a great trip!