Mt. San Jacinto (C2C)

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Sarah and I carpooled down from the central coast to Palm Springs, arriving around 6:00 p.m. After a quick stop at Chipotle we set out to try and find a place to sleep from 7:00 p.m. until 1 a.m. when we planned to start hiking. The weather report called for a chance of afternoon nastiness, so we really wanted an early start. We ended up sleeping at the Lykken Trailhead in Palm Springs figuring correctly that there'd be a semi-rural place to park there. What we didn't figure was that there would be so many yelling people walking by. 

4,300' pebbles

We woke up around 12:30 a.m. and made the short drive over to the Palm Springs Art Museum, parking in the free structure across the street. It was about 1:00 a.m. when we started up the trail. The first section was easy to follow even in the dark, though we relied heavily on the white dots that were painted on rocks. At some points the route split into a few options, but they all seemed to head in the same general direction...up. We got to the junction with the Lykken Trail after about 45 minutes of hiking. We got to the first rescue box after 1.5 hours then the 4300' pebbles after 3 hours. 

Moon over Palm Springs

Tram light

At that point the trail flattened out a bit, and we took a few breaks to take in probably the most amazing moon scene and sunrise I've ever seen. I used a cactus as a makeshift tripod to try and get a decent photo. We passed rescue box 2 after 4.5 hours. Even though it's "unmaintained", the trail never felt very difficult to follow. We used the really bright light at the tram station to gauge our progress, but it never seemed to get any closer until we got to the "flat rocks" after 6 hours of hiking. From there, the trail climbed steeply up to the plateau where the ranger station and tram are located. We got to that point around 8:15 a.m. after 7.25 hours of hiking. There was no one around since neither the tram nor the ranger station were open yet. It was strange to see buildings, touristy trail signs, etc. after ascending 8,000' on a route that felt so remote. We wouldn't see anyone else until after we reached the summit. 

Finally some real trees

Weather rolling in

We filled out a dayhike permit at the ranger station then started up the well marked route toward the peak. At some point earlier in the day we incorrectly recalled that the summit elevation was about 10,200'. So when we got to 9,600' and it started snowing, it turned out to be a big deal when we looked at the map and read off a summit elevation of 10,800 something. The top was covered in clouds, and the wind picked up, but we pressed on. The forecast had called for a 30% chance of afternoon rain/snow, so we expected something to roll in. We tried to pick up the pace to beat the storm to the top, but we were too tired really do it. We finally made it to the top at 11:11 a.m. after just over 9 hours of suffering. It was cold and windy, and we couldn't see anything to the west. The tram station and Palm Springs came in and out of view to the east as patchy clouds blew past. We hid underneath some rocks for a few minutes and ate. I had carried 5 liters of water to the top but probably drank less than 2. 

At the top

Looking back toward Palm Springs

Heading down

On the way back we passed two guys who were hiking to the top from Idyllwild. They were the first people we had seen. As we continued further down, the storm died down for a short while then became stronger than before. We were glad to have made it to the summit when we did. We started passing lots of people who had taken the tram up for an easy dayhike, but most of them were on their way back to the tram on account of the storm. 

Snow along the trail

We got back to the ranger station around 2 p.m. and decided to take the tram + taxi route back to our car instead of retracing our steps all the way. I figured we'd get back around 7 p.m. if we walked the whole way. That would have made for a 30+ mile day, and we both had to work the next day. It was strange to be inside thetram station as we must have looked pretty tired/haggard because people gave us some interesting looks. I had flashbacks to finishing the JMT by walking down the uber-touristy mist trail... 

The tram ride and taxi rides back to the car were uneventful except that there was a guy in the tram wearing an XFL jacket. When we got back to the trailhead, we looked up at the first part of the route, and it looked brutal. So thankful to have started in the dark!