I decided to book a small airbnb cabin in Idlyllwild, since I didn't want to spend almost 5 hours total travel time to and from San Jacinto – not to mention do the same next weekend as well for Gorgonio. And, given how pretty tough San Jacinto was, I'm glad I saved that energy all for the hike. The trek was almost consistently uphill throughout, and felt like some of the ‘hard on the knees' up and over hiking of Yosemite Half-Dome trails.

The hike itself was very pretty though, and, at the upper altitudes small monarch butterflies flitted all over the place. Reaching the hut was a relief. I rested there and snacked for a while, then worked up to the top. The path through those boulders near the top was VERY unclear. While I took a more leftward path up (following the AllTrails GPS), a couple others went to the right and essentially dead ended at a sheer dropoff. So watch how you proceed.

The view from the top was fairly clear (though humidity was enough that I couldn't really make out the Salton Sea).

The entire hike was very peaceful, as was the peak – only 3 of us the whole time. Following the path down was straightforward and easy – though the path got a little confusing near the Marion Mountain Campground at the bottom.