Despite the title of this post, I only attempted the hike once.  The “three times” refers to the number of permits I had before I actually did the hike. My original goal was to complete the hike on my birthday in mid-September – but the forests closed, the closure was extended to after my birthday weekend, and my permit was cancelled.  (Not complaining – the closure was completely understandable).  Then I got another permit for the week after that but noticed that there was a chance of thunderstorms after 11 a.m.  So I cancelled the permit again and tried for this weekend.

My hiking partner and I started the hike a bit before 5 a.m. and there were already a few cars in the lot at that time. The hike starts with a steep ascent and then levels off for a bit after that before climbing again.  However, it was the altitude that I think wore me out the most with this hike.  I had hoped to do San Jacinto in early September before San Gorgonio but, with the forest closures, I was worried it was getting a bit late in the season and wanted to hike Gorgonio this year.  I still felt prepared, having completed Baldy, Cucamonga and Ontario in the last several months.

Overall, the hike was nice but draining.  I had hoped to complete it in 10 hours and we were about three minutes shy of that.  I am still hoping to do San Jacinto in the next week or so and look forward to trying a new route to Gorgonio next year.