Day 15 : Uncle Patrick climbs Mt San Jacinto

4th May 2013

 Mile 179.5 to mile Humber Park to Little Round Valley via Mt San Jacinto
Mileage : 6.5 + 2.5


I'm an uncle today, and it's my birthday! What a present! Eldest sister Carmel and as yet un-named wee fella are both doing well!

Thanks to everyone for all the birthday messages on Facebook and the blog, they are all very much appreciated.

Originally I planned on having a full day off today and head back to the trail tomorrow, but the weather has other ideas. The forecast for tomorrow is snow about 8000ft, and with mt San Jacinto topping out at over 10,800ft it means there is some serious hiking to be done today if i want to summit it and get past Fuller Ridge, a notorious north facing ridge that is usually covered in snow this time of year, before the weather hits. But for the next hour I'm not going to think about hiking, instead I'm going to focus all my attention on the biggest, most calory laden breakfast in all of Idyllwild. Mm mm.

The local libraries along the route are generally the place where hikers without smart phones, like me, can catch up on blogs and stuff like that. Idyllwild is no different, but on top of the internet this library is also hosting an impromptu cello concert given by Cuddles, a professional cellist who is giving concerts up the trail as a way to keep his skills honed over the duration of the hike. The audience for this cello concerts is evenly split between thru-hikers, and old age pensioners, an odd mix.

Having topped up my energy and culture levels I headed back to the trail intending to summit mt San Jacinto in time to see the sun set. Mt San Jacinto tops out at 10834 feet and is a 4400 feet (ie as high as Ben Nevis!) climb from the Humber Park trail head that leads up the mountain. I started out from the trailhead at 3pm and summited exactly 4 hours later at 7pm. My hiker legs have definitely arrived, another birthday present! I could not have envisaged doing this 2 weeks a go with a full pack carrying 5 days of food. I had the summit all to myself, but the wind ws so strong I was up there only long enough to take an obligatory picture before heading back down to a more sensible altitude to find somewhere to camp for the night out of the worst of the weather.

The continuous hike : The PCT actually bypasses the San Jacinto peak, so summiting requires a detour and cuts out a section of the PCT. Some hikers are purists and don't allow themselves to do this. I, however, have decided not to be a purist and will instead do a continuous hike from Mexico to Canada hiking on the PCT most of the time (ie 95+% of the time) but willingly taking scenic detours as long as they are not shorter or easier than the official PCT.

Proof that I made it all the way up.