I'm based in Orange County, so Santiago Peak is my local peak. There are lots of ways to get there. I think Maple Springs Truck Trail is probably the best overall: steady grade all the way up, wide trail (it's actually used by trucks to get to the top), trees to provide some cover for most of the way up to Main Divide. If you're looking for a more rigorous way up, though, I'd go with Cadillac to Old Camp to Joplin. (The other rigorous way up, via Holy Jim, is still closed from the Jim Fire.) So for this hike, that's what I did!

I got an overcast day for this hike, which was nice: kept things cooler. And the rain didn't start until the very end, when I was less than half a mile from the car. But this hike is indeed rigorous: I was pretty slow going up Cadillac (there are intermittent steep bits), then pretty slow going up Joplin too. Joplin is still a treat, though: it's steep, but it's covered, climbing up through many different types of woods, including some big woods where the underbrush gives way and you just have big tree trunks. Plus, towards the top of Joplin I was hiking up through the clouds! Santiago Peak was beautiful: clear views all round, from San Gorgonio to the north, to San Jacinto to the east, to the ocean to the west. And I didn't see another soul the whole day! Just a great day to be out there!