We started this hike, without our fearless leader Mia, at around 7:00 nearly an hour from our original start time. There were lots of complications with our hike leader. Many participants did not show up once our hike leader Mia unexpectedly had to cancel. Long story short, from a group that is usually 30-35 in size, the San Jacinto group was whittled down to 15 which is literally half of our normal group size. Moving on to the good stuff, the complaining, and the gore that is San Jacinto. The terrain of San Jacinto via Marion Mountain is both beautiful and relentless. The 7.5 miles to the peak was unforgiving in the elevation gain, switchbacks, and consistent climbing. From Marion Mt., the climb is endless and has little to no flat areas. Luckily, it did have a few spots that were soft dirt paths but for the most part it was rocky with lots of scrambling especially at the end when you least want to encounter it. I have to say, however, that the incline is doable however exhausting the entire trip may have been. I didn't find it horribly uncomfortable to climb it was really just the route we took which seemed needlessly lengthy. Needless to say, I will never be visiting San Jacinto from Marion Mt. ever again. It's clearly all about the Tram Ride up. No one else at the peak looked as dead as we did when we got there. It also seemed like no one who was happy at the peak was summiting from Marion Mountain. (ha ha ha!) The weather was absolutely beautiful, both cool and warm with some wind at times but just enough of all the beautiful CA weather to make for really ideal conditions. No need for a jacket or ridiculous layers, I wore long sleeve the entire hike and was comfortable. The weather was warm enough at the top for me to even sport my 6 POP Challenge racerback which was cool! I'm not really sure how to make this story sound wonderful when sadly it just wasn't. I tried to hydrate as much as possible but I still felt incredibly drained the last 1.5 miles to the peak. It was horrible – I mean really horrible. It took forever and I was concerned the whole time about making it out before dark which didn't happen. On the decent down from the peak, I got blisters for the 100,000th time! I'm cursed! I also left my extra pair of socks in the car (dumbass!) Luckily a fellow hike had an extra pair that she generously loaned me. (God bless this woman!) I bandaged my toes with moleskin and KT tape finally about 2-3 miles down from the mountain hoping to alleviate the pain. I ended up walking down hill for close to 5 miles with nasty blisters on my big toes. I really was trying not to complain but seriously every step of that hike down was absolutely terrible. It was bothersome to me that we were in such a rush to get to the top and get out that I didn't feel like I really enjoyed the hike which sucks because it was very pretty. It was even more disappointing to reach the top and find out that the actual summit sign had been stolen. (Who does that???!!!) So we took some awesome pics with what appeared to be a cement block like post that someone graciously enscribed with a sharpie “San Jacinto Elevation 10,833” We spent very little time at the top just long enough to quickly eat something and take a few pictures as we were concerned about the time. So we started the very long journey back down at 3:50 pm. We walked and walked and walked and my feet only seemed to hurt more and more. What was initially just foot pain from excessive walking and swelling quickly escalated with the decline of the trail.Two of my toes went numb on my right foot while all the other pain in my body seemed to be settling in for the evening as well. At any rate, at 7:45 we pulled out our headlamps as this gorgeous sunset was descending on the valley below. (We got some beautiful pics!) Other hikers in our group were feeling sick also and another fell in the darkness and hurt her knee. And we walked the last half to three-quarter of a mile in the dark. I have to admit I was freaked out. I busted out my bear bell and my headlamp and was praying to Jesus to get us the hell out of the forest without getting lost. I quickly learned that the forest is no joke at night. This was my first time hiking in complete darkness. The most glorious sight of all was finding the Marion Mt trail sign and then the parking lot where the only cars left were 3 from our hiking party. We didn't make it back to the car until around 8:30. We were all feeling horrible, tired, and hungry. I think I'd like to try this one again and take the tram. No more Marion Mt. No More. EVER.! I hate you Marion Mountain. We will never meet again and that will be just fine.