Ramona Epic #24: San Jacinto Mountain (The Summit Views)

(GPS: N33 48.880 W116 40.765)

This continues the summit views from the top. I am looking toward the north, and San Gorgonio is in the background. There were people that went beyond the rocks you see to look down below. I had thought of doing that, but decided just to stay where I was and get ready to head back down when done with these pictures.

The next two are to the west:As you can see there was a lot of cloudy haze. The smoke was eventually coming too.One picture I had hoped to get was something to indicate where Hemet was since I have a picture of me from the Ramona Bowl looking up to here. All I can tell you is it is down there somewhere to the southwest:
Looking toward the south.More to the south where the smoke was coming from in San Diego County.
Let me give you some concluding thoughts on this one as I wrap this up:

This was not a really difficult hike compared to what I normally do. It is about a 2,500 ft. elevation gain in about 5.8 miles (11+ miles roundtrip). Getting there, getting my tickets, the permit, etc. was something I was just glad to be done with so I could relax on the hike. I did relax on the hike and my pace was not as fast as I could go since I purposely stopped for pictures and video on the way to the summit. I was just glad to be taking in the air. With that said, it only took me two hours to get to the top from the tram.

Much like any other touristy type of hike, and some of the same issues one faces on Mt. Whitney, most of the people I encountered was when I was on the way down. I knew this would probably be the case and is the reason I was only at the summit long enough to take pictures, video, and hydrate with a few drinks. Not that I have anything against people on this hike, but as the day goes on more and more people end up on a popular trail like this. What usually happens is I pull off the narrow trails to allow people through that are coming up. If I have to keep doing that it wears me down more and more from the constant stopping and starting. There is usually someone that tries to "interview" or "interrogate" me about how far they have to go, or if I saw someone ahead of them with a blue hat that they know. Most people keep these sorts of things brief, but sometimes I get people that want more details out of me, and that is when my brain starts to fade. The closer I got back to the tram the more people were starting their hikes and backpacking that afternoon. So, I ended up making really bad time getting back to the tram compared to going up. It was VERY SLOW moving on the way down!

To get back to the tram that last 500 ft. or so is going up a cement ramp. Lots of people were coming down here as I headed up it. I finally reached the point where I began the video, rested, did the beginning part of the video, took the tram down, did the video parts for the station below, and then had a relatively easy drive home.

This is a hike I had wanted to do for some years. It reminded me a lot of being in Yosemite. I can understand why people would want to come up the tram to just be up there. I have thought of going back just for that some other time. Most of my elevation hikes in So. Cal. do not give me that feeling. The forest and rocks do feel like being in a forest and not near the desert.

Finally, when I was reading the Ramona book I was very excited to see that this mountain was where Ms. Jackson sent Alessandro and Ramona. So, I knew I had to do it, and this hike was the final thing I had to do for this series. Unfortunately, due to the way schedules work, I was not able to get up here in 2010. I was a bit stressed over that because I would have been disappointed not to have been able to include this as part of the series. Also, as I write this, the tram is usually down for maintence in September, and then one faces winter conditions. There are other factors involved, but I was glad to get this done in July, 2011. When I was at the summit I was truly relieved not only to have the hike "done", but also that I had completed all I needed done for the Ramona project at that point.

Ramona Epic #24: Mt. San Jacinto (Youtube Version)

Ramona Epic #24: Mt. San Jacinto (Vimeo Version)

Ramona Epic #24: San Jacinto Mountain (To the Summit)

Other than getting to the summit, the one other thing I had a curiousity in was the San Jacinto Hut near the summit. It is a storm shelter and has a registry to sign inside of it. On the way up I bypassed it completely other than taking a few pictures and video because I wanted to get to the summit.Unfortunately, I did not get to go into it. I thought I saw some people come out of it that were getting ready to backpack somewhere. I was pretty sure there were people in it while I was heading up. I then tried to enter it myself and it appeared to be locked. It was a minor disappointment, but since I had been in other shelters like this before (ex. The Whitney Summmit Hut) I was more than happy to keep on moving down.

From the hut to the summit there is a few hundred feet of elevation gain. The issue here is that this is the only part of the hike that you have to scramble over boulders. In my picture you can barely see the moon overhead, and there are some people hanging out on the right near the summit.

There were a bunch of people at the summit. Many people were having their picture taken near the very top. There is a sign that gives the elevation and a few benchmarks. Right next to it is a rock or two that gets you to the highest point. After a few people came down from the top rocks, I made my break for the high point and got out my camcorder and started to do a quick pan video of the summit. I then took some pictures in all directions. I ended up doing it really quickly since more people were coming to the spot near the sign.

This first picture is looking toward the southeast where I started at the top of the tram:

Just panning slightly to the left and still looking toward the southeast.

This is looking toward the east and into Palm Springs.More to the northeast in the following picture:

I was on the 2nd highest mountain in southern California, but San Gorgonio, just across the way on the left side of the picture, is the highest. You will notice that one never truly escapes trees on this mountain.

I will continue the summit views in the next blog.

Ramona Epic #24: Mt. San Jacinto (Youtube Version)

Ramona Epic #24: Mt. San Jacinto (Vimeo Version)

Ramona Epic #24: San Jacinto Mountain (To the Hut)

From Wellman's Divide the elevation part of the hike really stars to kick in. Nothing too strenous, but I think I enjoyed this part of the hike more than the climb up from Round Valley. This is where you start heading back east more in the direction of Palm Springs.

There comes a point where there are two very long switchbacks. On the trail of the first one I looked back. You can see the hazy clouds around, but there was one in the background of concern.That wasn't a cloud. It was smoke. That was coming from San Diego County. It was not too bad that morning, but later on in the day coming back down, the smoke started to reach Mt. San Jacinto. You could smell it, and it gave the sunlight an orange look all around.It still seemed like a long way to the top from below, but in reality of the hike it was very close.This is along the second long switchback. I really did not know how much longer I had to go, but felt pretty good. It was at this point I started encountering a few people on their way down from the summit. I did not ask, but I was quite sure that I was almost done based on my prior experience of these types of mountain hikes.I did encounter a sign that said I had a .3 miles to the summit. While I was taking pictures, a man with a backpack came from the other side. He had spent the night below and was hiking some trail coming from Idyllwild. We both agreed it was time to finish this hike up. Not too long after I saw the San Jacinto Hut just below the summit.

Ramona Epic #24: Mt. San Jacinto (Youtube Version)

Ramona Epic #24: Mt. San Jacinto (Vimeo Version)

Ramona Epic #24: San Jacinto Mountain (To Wellman's Divide)

(GPS: N33 48.780 W116 38.320)

"'To San Jacinto,' he said. 'San Jacinto Mountain. Do not look
back, Majella! Do not look back!' he cried, as he saw Ramona,
with streaming eyes, gazing back towards San Pasquale. 'Do not
look back! It is gone! Pray to the saints now, Majella! Pray! Pray!'"

In chapter 20 of Ramona, Alessandro and Ramona are driven off their land and retreat to Mt. San Jacinto. I thought I would put up N.C. Wyeth's artwork here:

From what I can tell, Helen Hunt Jackson never stepped on Mt. San Jacinto. Alessandro mentions Saboba at the foot of Mt. San Jacinto which is the way it really is. They decide not to go there since it too is a poor village and they would probably be kicked out of there too. So, he decides to go up higher onto Mt. San Jacinto which means freedom to him, but it is also a sign of desperation.

Since these are fictional characters, and Helen Hunt Jackson really did not go into detail about where they were on this mountain, I will be referring to this mountain in very broad terms. Normally, on a mountain hike, I refer to the high peak as the main mountain peak and the sub-peaks as something else, However, for this hike when I refer to Mt. San Jacinto I am talking about the whole hike and everything you see. The point of this hike is not to point to some place and say that this is what Ms. Jackson was referring to, but to let you use your imagination with the pictures and see where Alessandro and Ramona would have lived in the fictional world of the book based on the real mountain. So, for the next few entries you will see the type of terrain they would have lived in whether Ms. Jackson completely knew about it or not. She could have experienced some of the lower levels of the mountain on the western side, or could have talked to people that had been on it.

This is from HWY 10:

In the last few blogs I covered the tram that gets you to around 8,500+ feet level. That morning I knew I was to get out of the tram as quick as possible, walk 1/4 of a mile to the ranger station, and get a hiking permit. There were a few people ahead of me, but I signed the permit at roughly 8:15am that morning. It was a quick process, and I was glad that all the tasks of the morning, like driving to the station, getting a ticket for the tram, and finally the permit were done so I could really start doing what I was there for.

I was now in a forested area. The desert floor was nowhere to be seen. Not too far off one encounters a few streams along the trail.

One thing this hike reminded me of is walking through Yosemite. Lots of trees blocking the sun, and huge boulders off the sides of the trail. At this point, early on, there was little elevation.My pace was pretty good and I was rather relaxed taking in the air. There were, from what it looked like, Conservation Corps type of members coming in the opposite direction toward the tram that I saw at several points. For most of this hike on the way to the top I had very brief interactions with people. On the way down it was a different story which I will get to.

Eventually, I got past the meadows of Round Valley. There was some wildlife out, but when I got to Round Valley that is where I saw a bunch of campers since that is where they usually go to camp here overnight. Not too far after that is where I started to hit some short switchbacks and the elevation started to pick up. After some leg work, I saw the trees open up a little and realized I was about half-way done with the hike.I had reached Wellman's Divide. I finally got to see some of the area from up high.

I have read that you can see Palomar Observatory from here on a good day. It is off somewhere to the right. The day I went it was rather hazy, and there was another factor I will get to eventually that made the views a little more hazy that I would have liked, but I was enjoying this hike.

The trail does split here into other trails. One trail goes off and around the right side of the above picture. My trail to the top of the mountain was just behind me. I briefly talked to a few men here and off I went. The hike from the station to the top is about six miles, and it is around three miles to get to this point. However, most of the uphill was from this point on.

Ramona Epic #24: Mt. San Jacinto (Youtube Version)

Ramona Epic #24: Mt. San Jacinto (Vimeo Version)