The Three Saints, Part 3: San Jacinto (Fifth Time's the Charm)

On Sunday, October 18, I finally stood on top of San Jacinto. It was my fifth try, and it finished off the Three Saints: Mount Baldy on September 26, San Gorgonio on October 9, and now San Jacinto, 10,834 feet.

If you read the interlude, you know how the first four tries went. Every one ended with a turnaround for lack of daylight, and none of them started before 9 AM. This time I fixed the two things I could: I started early, and I decided my turnaround times before I left the car. If I was on the summit by 12:30, I'd finish the loop down the gentler west side. Between 12:30 and 1:30, I'd come straight back down Marion Mountain. If I wasn't on top by 1:30, I'd turn around wherever I was.

Up Marion Mountain

I left home at 5:13 AM and was on the trail at 7:22, from the same Marion Mountain trailhead where three of my four tries had started. The sign there says 5¼ miles to Mt. San Jacinto. I knew from experience it feels longer than that.

Hello, old friend...

I'd checked the San Jacinto Trail Report the night before, and it was spot on (thank you!): the trail was dry and the snow from October 11–12 was gone. I had left the microspikes at home. The first couple of miles are the steepest stretch of the day, around 23% in places. That's the stretch that wrecked my knees on the way down with JW in 2024. I'd always gone up it, but this time I'd planned to come down the Deer Springs Trail instead: gentler, even if it was significantly more distance.

Early-morning view out over the Idyllwild side

Entering the Mount San Jacinto State Park Wilderness

Granite and pines higher up

Higher up, Marion Mountain Trail joins the Deer Springs Trail, and then you pass Little Round Valley. The trail was busy: lots of younger backpackers, and day hikers all the way up to the peak and on their way back down.

What I think is Bed Springs Crossing, about 20 minutes below Little Round Valley

The landmarks from earlier tries came quickly. By 10:33 I was past 9,835 feet, where JS, WS and I turned back in February. By 11:21 I'd passed 10,362 feet, where JW and I stopped in 2024, and by 11:29 I was past 10,485 feet, where LG and I gave up in March. In March we hadn't reached that spot until 2:40 in the afternoon. Above Little Round Valley there are lots of interconnected routes, and now I can see why finding the way was so hard in the snow. It wasn't trivial even when dry!

Little Round Valley

The trail junction just below the summit, 11:34 AM

The top

Just below the summit is the stone shelter the Civilian Conservation Corps built in the 1930s. I reached it at 11:44. The last stretch from there is a scramble over big granite blocks, and around noon I was standing next to the sign: San Jacinto Peak, elevation 10,834 feet. Five tries and two and a half years after JS and I first rode the tram up into the snow.

The stone summit shelter

Finally. San Jacinto Peak, 10,834 feet

The survey marker on the summit rock

The sky was clear and it wasn't nearly as windy as it had been on Baldy and Gorgonio: not too hot, not too cold, just right. I had a sandwich and chips sitting in a nicely chiseled-out rock that made the perfect seat. What a perfect peak day. I'd reached the top with about half an hour to spare on my 12:30 cutoff, so the loop was on. I stayed about 40 minutes and left at 12:40, down the Deer Springs Trail instead of back the way I came.

Down the west side

The loop drops south from the summit to Wellman Divide (1:46), then turns west on the Strawberry Cienaga Trail. Just past the divide is Wellman's Cienega, a spring surrounded by ferns that had turned rust-orange for fall, and it was flowing well. After Wellman Divide I didn't see another person. Then the trail traverses an open slope with huge views back toward Idyllwild. It's the same trail I turned around on in October 2024, coming from the other direction.

Starting down, with the desert below

The traverse toward Wellman Divide

Wellman's Cienega, flowing, with the ferns turned for fall

Big views from the Strawberry Cienaga Trail

Strawberry Cienaga, farther along, was just a seep, with nothing usable. At Strawberry Junction (8,100 feet, about 3:45 PM) I turned onto the Deer Springs Trail and headed down through the pines. The descent is mostly 6–13%, much kinder than Marion Mountain. My knees held up fine, which is exactly why I picked this direction.

Strawberry Junction

The "Secret" connector trail

The route leaves the Deer Springs Trail on an unnamed connector, a dotted line on the map that branches off to the right. It has no Forest Service or state park trail number — it's an old equestrian and social trail, which is why it shows up as a plain dashed line on CalTopo and Gaia. Idyllwild locals seem to call it a few different things: the Thousand Trails Shortcut, the Corral Trail or Stables Spur, or just the "secret" trail, and it skips the steep lower switchbacks of the Deer Springs Trail up from Highway 243. It's hard to spot, since there's no sign where it starts. Once you're on it, it's well used and somewhat maintained, marked with cairns and rocks propped against trees. It's fairly steep, but the pine needles covering the trail were very comforting underfoot. It runs down past the corrals, with a rusted, abandoned pipe along most of its length, and comes out on Sawmill Flats Road. The signs call them the Thousand Trails Camp Corrals, and I think they belong to the Thousand Trails campground next to Pine Cove.

The unsigned turnoff to the connector, on the right off the Deer Springs Trail

A cairn marking the unsigned connector

Rocks against the trees mark the way too

The old pipe along the connector

The Thousand Trails Camp Corrals

The undulating finish

The last couple of miles were the hardest part of the day. The real undulations started once I was on Sawmill Flats Road, and I followed it for a good stretch before the turnoff to the Stone Creek Trail, on the right; its sign looked like it had been knocked down. None of the climbs are big, but the road rolls up and down between about 6,500 and 6,850 feet. After a day of nonstop climbing followed by nonstop descending, every little one hurt. I took it easy on the long descent and through the rollers, careful not to wear myself out and end up hurt. Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't change it: I usually prefer a loop to an out-and-back, even when it adds distance. But those rollers...

The abandoned sawmill at Saw Mill Flat

Looking back at the Stone Creek Trail sign at 6:06 PM, finally on the Marion Mountain Trail back to the trailhead

The last three-quarters of a mile has always confused me: there are too many interconnected paths between the state park, the national forest wilderness and the campground. Even with usable light I took a wrong turn, going straight where I should have switched back. The sun set at 6:10 while I was on the Marion Mountain Trail, or one of its variants and old dirt roads, heading back to the trailhead. I got back to the trailhead at 6:20, in civil twilight, with just enough light to read the sign I'd started from that morning.

Sunset from the Marion Mountain Trail

Back at the sign I started from, 6:20 PM

The numbers from my watch: 16.5 miles, 4,852 feet of climbing, and just under 11 hours from car to car. Here is the full track on Garmin Connect.

Water and trail notes (October 18)

• Bed Springs Crossing (I think), about 20 minutes below the Little Round Valley sign: good flow.
• Wellman's Cienega: good flow.
• Strawberry Cienaga: just a seep; nothing usable.
• The connector off Deer Springs (the "Thousand Trails Shortcut"): unsigned and easy to miss on the right, but well used and marked with cairns once you're on it. Upper end is on the Deer Springs Trail around 7,050 feet (33.7788, -116.7067), just above the Suicide Rock Trail junction; lower end is on Sawmill Flats Road at the corrals, around 6,350 feet (33.7737, -116.7252).
• Stone Creek Trail junction on Sawmill Flats Road: the sign looked knocked down.

Three for three

So that's all three saints. Here's how they compare:

• Mount Baldy was the shortest, especially with the chairlift down, and the lowest. It was also the steepest and most exposed, with a lot of talus. Physically challenging.
• San Gorgonio was the most remote and the longest loop, with a big stretch of trail above 10,000 feet. I had a headache from the altitude. Mentally challenging.
• San Jacinto was the most shaded, nicest terrain underfoot. Even though it has been my nemesis for a while, this hike was probably the most enjoyable of the three.

JW, JS, WS and LG each climbed some part of this mountain with me before I finally reached the top. Thanks for every one of those turnarounds. They taught me to start early, bring poles and microspikes, and decide when to turn around before I leave the car.