After a 3 month hiatus due to Bronchitis, I finally got back out in the hills. I've done San Jacinto peak 3 times before but always after taking the Palm Springs Tram up the hill. This time I wanted to make it legit and decided on the Marion Mt Trail just north of Idyllwild. The trail head starts at about 6,300 feet and ascends about 4,500ft over 5.6 miles to the summit. I started the hike with two other companions on the 9th. The game plan was to hike approximately 4 miles to Little Round Valley Campsite, about 1,500ft below the summit, camp there the night, reach the summit the next morning, and then make our way back down the mountain. One of my companions Chris Brown, (trail name “Heat Stroke”) was dealing with a chronically bad hip and smartly turned around on the first day once reaching the junction with the PCT. After a brief rest at the trail junction with the PCT, My buddy Sean Hogan and I continued up to Little Round Valley.

Like all my hikes I tried researching online where the water sources were and if they were flowing. We were happy to find out that there were multiple sources of water to top off with once you got past the PCT junction. Best yet the spring was running up at Little Round Valley. We were also surprised but happy to find out that there were a couple of out houses at Little Round Valley.

Little Round Valley Campsite is at 9,300ft. That night the temperature got down 25 F. The next morning Sean was  feeling really crappy from altitude sickness. This was unfortunate as Sean has never been to the top of San Jacinto Peak. He had hoped to do the peak earlier in the year when he was doing the PCT but the snow pack prevented it while he was on that portion of the trail. Sean received the Trail Name of “No Fucks” while on the PCT this year because of his tendency to not give a fuck and just keep plowing onward. Sean made a wise decision that morning though to head on back down the trail to reverse the effects of his altitude sickness.

This left me to summit on my own. The 1.6 miles and 1,500ft to the summit only took me about and hour and a half. The view was beautiful, but Santa Ana winds had kicked up a lot of dust over the desert and I could barely make out the 10 Fwy from the summit. San Jacinto was Peak #5 of my 6 peaks. I only have San Gorgonio Peak left.  It took me another 4 hours to come back down the trail to our car.

Marion Mountain Trail was good challenge.  You gain about 785ft of elevation for every mile you travel. Some parts of the trail you have to do some high stepping to get over rocks and some fallen trees. On the portion of the trail that goes from the PCT to Little Round Valley, there is a stretch where the thorny shrubs have grown into the path. I got through this stretch in shorts but some people might want to wear long pants.  I'll give myself a couple of weeks for my calves to fully recover then its on to San Gorgonio!