“The view from San Jacinto is the most sublime spectacle to be found anywhere on this earth!” – John Muir
Having hiked San Jacinto Peak via the tram side before I’ve had my eye on hiking it from the idyllwild side and decided to pick up and do it a few weekends back when I did not have any weekend plans. Hitting the trail early I was on my way up the mountain by 7 with perfect weather other than a few clouds it the sky. I knew that more clouds with a chance of rain were predicted for the afternoon so I wanted to make sure that I was off the mountain before they rolled in. Doing some snow shoeing in idyllwild this winter I was familiar with the area but had never taken the trail to the peak so the contrast in scenery was fantastic from when I had seen it months earlier covered in snow. I made it to the peak in great time but was surprised to see clouds already rolling in from the desert, which is an interesting and unnerving sight. I spent some time on the peak, threw down a snack, enjoyed the views and headed back down.
Hiking Mt San Jacinto has always been one of favorite hikes and I think this has become a new favorite trail, great views, slightly shaded, tons of elevation, an all around great time.
Length: 11.7 miles
Duration: 5 hours 1 minute
Average Speed: 2.3 mph
Total Elevation Gain: 5066
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Wow! This seemed awesome thanks for sharing. I hope you don’t mind me asking, but what would you say about hiking this trail for a first-timer?
My friends invited me to join tomorrow (Aug 26) and I accepted. I’ve never done a full mountain trail before, just the trail around the canyons at my home. I don’t have any gear (just a pair of old Nike’s) but I’m in pretty decent shape (I do kickboxing and some muay thai) but I’ve never really hiked before.
Hey kayotil, um this is a pretty intense hike for a first timer I would say, there is a lot of elevation gain and for SoCal this is one of the highest peaks so it’s also high in elevation. It is a great hike though, I think that if you give yourself plenty of time, take it slow, have plenty of water and fuel you should be ok (it’s not super long which is nice). I would definitely think about some new shoes haha. If you go let us know how it turns out!