Yesterday Trisha and I took friends who recently transplanted to Los Angeles (Laura and Brian) from Chicago on the San Jacinto Peak hike – in my opinion one of the most spectacular hikes in Southern California. The mountain’s north exposure, seen in the picture below, with 10,000 vertical feet, is one of the largest gains in elevation over such a small horizontal distance in the contiguous United States.

It starts with a ride up on the world-famous Palm Springs Aerial Tram which whisked us from 100 degree F on the desert floor to a comfortable 60 degrees at the mountain station at 8,500 feet. It is a thrilling ride that I recommend highly if you have never done it. It also provides a way in the winter to lie by the pool in Palm Springs in the morning and go cross-country skiing in alpine conditions in the afternoon, all within a few miles of each other.

We took the classic shortest route to the peak. Getting a late start just before noon at the mountain station, I was concerned whether we could make the round trip which takes around four hours each way for old guys like me. But we did it with 20 minutes of daylight to spare, arriving back at the station around 7:15pm. It was a long 10.8 mile hike with thrilling highlights along the way.

[You can click on all the pictures to enlarge]

Here is the map of the hike, showing our trek one way, going up. We came back the same and shortest way, but in the afternoon light everything looks different, so it seems like a new hike altogether.

The altitude profile is here:

As you can see, it’s a steady climb with a grade of about 10% on average, all the way up. Down is the same way the other way around. Interestingly, it takes me the same amount of time going down as it does going up. I have to save my knees and feet, and watch every step carefully. This makes for good scheduling of a trip and the turn-around time.

Very close to the peak, there is a stone hut that was built in 1935 by the Civilian Conservation Corps under the direction of Serbo-Croatian immigrant Alfred Zarubicka, a stonemason known in Idyllwild as “Zubi.”

From the hut to the peak, the trail fizzles out, and scrambling with both feet and legs over and around boulders is required. This can get nasty, because by then most hikers are dizzy from exhaustion and the high altitude. It’s hard to keep your balance, and every step, every pull, every jump across huge gaps in boulders carries some risk.

Fortunately, this section is not long, and at 3:30pm, we arrived at the top.

Now for the fun at the peak.

Climbing up to that highest point was easier than climbing down from it after the picture!

And that was our day’s work yesterday.

I left out the picture of the four of us at the bar in the mountain station – the “after” picture. Yes, there is a full restaurant and bar at the mountain station, and for those “hikers” that just want to pretend, there is plenty to do there all day long.