19th Century Naturalist John Muir wrote of San Jacinto Peak, "The view from San Jacinto is the most sublime spectacle to be found anywhere on this earth!" This is very likely true since you can see everything from desert terrain to alpine terrain - pretty much everything the Earth has to offer. Proof that there is no place like California on this planet - we have it all!!!! To get to Mt. San Jacinto State Park it is best to take the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway at Valley Station. This is an adventure in itself! Mountain Station which is at the top of the tramway is pretty cool. There are sightseeing balconies from where you can get spectacular views of the valley below and the adjacent forest. We decided to do the Round Valley Loop instead of doing the strenuous hike to Mt. San Jacinto. First you have to walk down a cement trail to the ranger station in order to check in and sign a permit. It's free and required. The ranger that attended us told us that there was an easy half in this loop and a harder one. She recommended that we take the easy trail into the wilderness and come back to Mountain Station using the harder path. Immediately after the ranger station the scenery gets gorgeous. There are huge and beautiful rock formations with pine trees interspersed among them everywhere you look. It is all so amazingly beautiful that we actually made a mistake. We got to a bridge and I decided it had to be crossed in order to continue on the easy trail. My BF thought that the bridge seemed to lead to nowhere. I couldn't see why a bridge would lead to nowhere but decided to go down a trail that he was sure was the trail we had to take. This trail took us to huge boulders that were forming a small tunnel - nice! Then the trail got kind of hard to follow. We spotted older hikers and they told us that we were on the hard trail haha! I'm never letting my BF live this one down. They said it was better to start on the hard trail anyway. In any case it was too late to go back to the easy trail so we continued our ascent on the hard trail. The scenery got better and better. As we climbed we got better views of different peaks along the way. When we got to the midway point of the Round Valley Loop we decided to explore the campsite that was a little further down the way. There was a cool ranger station there. We sat down for a while and ate some granola bars and then got up and walked back to the midway point. The way back was beautiful as well. Towards the end of this part of the loop we got to see some really breathtaking cliffs and just about in that area I spotted Mountain Station perched atop a cliff. We were close. We got to see a gray squirrel carry a pine cone in its mouth up a tree. It was amazing. The squirrel almost dropped it but he managed to keep it in his mouth! I saw some Blue Jays too! The Round Valley Loop is kid friendly. The cement trail up to Mountain Station is kind of a doozy. This hike is the most beautiful hike I have ever experienced. It provides you with equal parts exercise and time to meditate. I will definitely come back someday!!!! read more

My girlfriends and I went here for a morning/early afternoon hike to Suicide Rock, which was about a 6 mile hike roundtrip. Upon entering the park, there is one main trail that leads to multiple trails, where some trails are 3 miles and some are even longer, like 10 miles! You can choose the trail about 2 miles in. I would say the trail to Suicide Rock is an intermediate level, the elevation is not too steep but it slowly goes up and up as you keep going. In addition, the trail was nice as there are a lot of trees... yay shade! At the end, it can be a little confusing to where the Suicide Rock is, but if you wander around you will find your way and can see the beautiful view; it was like seeing an enormous sea of trees! The view was definitely rewarding. As always with every hike, bring your snacks, plenty of water, and bug spray. To enter the park you will need an adventure pass to park as well as to enter; the pass can be obtained in a gas station nearby, and you can pay to enter in a little station near the parking lot. Park rangers do check so make sure you pay and keep your receipts. Enjoy! read more

Hiked to the summit of Mt. San Jacinto Peak via Deer Springs Trail in Idyllwild on May 27th 2015. There are multiple routes and this is a beautiful peak and trail regardless of which way you summit. I've been the Palm Springs tram route and it's great too, but this time I started from Idyllwild and tho long and steep, its beautiful, breathtaking and absolutely amazing! Pick up a day pass (no fee) (and no parking pass needed to park at the deer springs trail head) or camping pass at the ranger station in Idyllwild. (i think there is a fee for camping) I picked up my day pass the morning of my hike. People, this is a seriously awesome hike you have to do it!!!! 18.2 miles is what my GPS tracked. I loved the shady and well maintained trail which was very easy to follow up until after Little Round Valley, when due to a lot of snow melt, the trail is often washed away. Super easy to lose it, and I did not once, but twice. So be careful the last stretch of 1.3 miles and keep in ind the last mile is never-ending for some reason...but just keep going you'll suddenly see the last mile marker at the top and from there your energy and faith will bounce back!!!! Soon after that you'll see the emergency hut, and from there it's about another .3 mile scramble over a huge pile of boulders. Then you are at the summitt! The boulders you need to climb over are off to the south/west of the emergency cabin..... I may not have "officially" summit-ed had I not came across other hikers scrambling down even tho I had a map with me, it would have been a huge disappointment to not have my photo at the summit so be mindful when you're looking for the Summit. I brought a lightweight backpack and wore hiking boots, shorts and layers. I didn't bring trekking poles but I sure do wish I had, so if you have them bring them. I came across snow patches just before Little Round Valley, and a water source, obviously fresh snow melt. This is a tough hike to tackle in a day, but it is so worth it and trust me, once you boulder climb over the boulders and stand at the top, the 365 degree view may reduce you to tears, as it did me. ABSOLUTELY AMAZINGLY BREATHTAKING!!!!!! Although I did this solo, I came across several hikers, along the way and met a couple of guys at the summit that were traveling thru PCT. They motivated me with a couple of stories about thier hiking PCT and made my measly 9 miles down the mountain in comparison to thier hikes seem like a walk in the park. Total time 8 hours, the weather was awesome!!!! Elevation 10,834! WOOTNESS! read more

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These people are as helpful as they come. It's not often you run into people who work for the government who enjoy their jobs, aren't assholes, and aren't idiots. The people here are top notch. The facilities are clean, the campgrounds are in a convenient location in conjunction with the rest of the town, and again... the staff is great. Story time. I was bored last weekend and felt like doing an overnighter. I called to check on availability here, and was informed that you can't reserve same day, that most places will be booked, and that I'd probably have to camp at the bottom of the hill. One of the rangers tells me that she has a possible no show at the camp. She said if it wasn't open when I got there, they had a hike/bike section that they could put me in, which you have to walk about 500 feet to set up camp. She said she'd be staying a little late, and would be expecting me. On the way there, I stopped to do some good Samaritan shit, that I probably shouldn't have. I ended up shearing the nail of my big toe, completely off. No big deal, it's happened 6 times in my life, and I wasn't about to let it ruin my weekend; especially considering that I had a pair of Teva's in the truck. I get to the campgrounds about an hour after she said she would be closing, per our last conversation. My toe is bleeding still, and kinda hurting now. She declares the reservation prior to my arrival to be a no-show, and puts me up there; completely saving me the walk with all my camping gear, to a campsite. Now I get to park where I'm camping. I wake up the next morning, and realize that my toe is looking a little worse than it was the previous night. So I've accepted that I'm not going to be doing any long hauls, but I still NEEDED to go on a hike. I go to the ranger station to ask them about any other hikes which are the distance I know I can do. You can tell when you come into contact with someone who loves their job, because they can talk to you about it all day. I spoke to a ranger fitting that description. The ranger gives me a list of trails which are in the mileage range I am looking for, talks to me about the trails, offers me some gauze for my damn toe that won't stop bleeding, and sends me on my way. It turned out to be a good weekend, despite the fact that I won't be wearing boots or shoes for about a month. It was possible because of the people here. Had they been rude, I probably would have stayed angry the whole time. read more

Mt San Jacinto was a treat. The view from the top is beautiful. The ride up is pretty fun too! I strongly suggest it to anyone any age.

I took the tram up and hiked up to San Jacinto peak The forecast the night before said 0% chance of rain. When I got to the ranger station he said there was a 10% chance of rain and he warned me that the weather can change really fast there and to make sure I have the gear for it if it does. He was right! The temperature was 68f at the ranger station , but as I hiked up to the peak it kept getting colder, and then the weather changed and a storm came in out of nowhere. The temperature dropped further and heavy winds started. It got so cold at the peak that my hands went numb and almost fell over from the strong winds. Meanwhile it was still 60 degrees at the ranger station and 90 degrees down at the lower tram station! Anyways the hike is great! It has A LOT of boulders all over the place which are fun to climb on as well as pretty dense forest. It's completely different than say hiking up to Mt. Baldy or Cucamonga peak. This hike is also easier than those other hikes. If you have knee problems this hike might be harder as this has lots of stepping up/down involved in the hike as opposed to just walking up or down an incline. Btw I'm terrified of heights and had no real issues with the tram or being at the peak other than just being scared and almost falling over and losing my balance and bumping into people haha. read more

My friends and I decided to backpack up Deer Springs trail to the summit this weekend. Phenomenal views the whole way up! The trail is beautiful - about 10 miles+/- to the top - and doesn't seem like it would be too difficult with a day pack, but with our 30-40lb packs it was pretty intense. Well worth the views from the top! We got to Little Round campground in about 6 hours, set up camp and left our packs behind for the last climb up to the summit. One woman we passed said the winds are usually very strong at the top but fortunately we chose a great weekend to go up. It was very mild - warm in the sun but pretty chilly in the shade. There were still patches of snow from about 8000ft up and the streams were still pretty full but the snow seems to be melting fast so later months may not have much of a water source. Should be good till mid summer I would assume. Trails are well maintained although one guy we passed said that towards the top the shrubs were so thick a few weeks ago that you had to cut your way through. The little round campground was beautiful with a nice stream flowing directly through. One issue we had walking up was the amount of bugs! Be sure to bring some bug spray because those little pests are all around you from the bottom up till about 7/8000ft. Mostly big gnats...in your ears, eyes, mouth...eck! Water must be treated so be sure to bring a purifier. And no fires allowed but you are allowed to bring camp stoves. It got down to about 35/40 at night but during the day it was probably low 80's with a very cool breeze which kept it nice and cool. read more

Snow. Yeah I know alot about snow. I hiked Deer Springs to Suicide in the snow. Saw Mountain Lion tracks, awesome. And yes, it just gets better cause its a state park. I love it. One of my faves. read more

This review is strictly for the Mt San Jacinto State Park Campground Pros: Bathrooms were clean and well stocked with tp Sites were well kept and somewhat spacious It was very pretty, with huge pines, shade giving oaks, and manzanita throughout There were water spigots in some of the sites Its about a 3 minute walk from the village center, which is nice to have for the market and shops There were beautiful Blue Jays and other cool birds, and big squirrels with huge furry tails You can get a wilderness permit right at the front desk Cons: Trash truck (complete with super loud reverse beeps) came around emptying dumpsters promptly at 6am on Saturday morning The showers required tokens that cost $1 for 5 mins. (which is understandable for controlling water consumption, I just don't appreciate paying $25 a night for a site, then being told I have to pay more for a shower). The website does, however, say that the shower require payment. The Ranger wouldn't trade me back $2 for 2 unused shower tokens. She said that it is policy, but when we bought them we watched her take them out of a jar, and stick the dollar bills into a desk drawer. I don't see why the process couldn't be reversed for the sake of customer service. The website is confusing about how many vehicles are allowed per site, I couldn't find it listed anywhere on the actual state park website, and it says 2 on the reservation site. However, when we got there the Ranger told us that with the cost of the site only 1 car was allowed per site, but we could have more if we wanted for $8 extra per car, per night. The extra cars were going to show up late, so we asked if we could just check them in early so they could just get set up when they arrived, but the Ranger refused and said the cars had to be present to be checked in. For the sake of full disclosure, another Ranger came around in the evening and checked the cars in right at the site. The reservation website doesn't say how much it is per site until you reserve it ($25). They didn't answer their phone to answer questions every time we called. Not every site has a water spigot, cross your fingers and hope you get one. There's a highway that wraps around the campground, so other than the sound of cars zooming by and trash trucks doing their thing, you really feel like you're out in nature. Bonus Cons... things that they can't really control or have nothing to do with them: Fire ants, the place is infested with them and they are very aggressive. I grew up with fire ants and figured they wouldn't bother us, but these suckers are just angry. Strangely, once the sun goes down they vanish... and I mean vanish. The ground is literally crawling with them and within minutes they are no where to be found, it's weird. They are tolerable though, I wouldn't stay away because of the ants. There seems to be only one place to swim in all of Idyllwild. It was pretty hot when we were there, and I was excited after our hike to go find a lake or something to cool off in, but the only lakes around don't allow swimming (which is criminal in my opinion). The Thousand Trails campground has a pool, but you have to pay $10 a person, or rent a tent site for $32 to get your group in... but then you get free showers too. I hate to sound so negative cause our trip was still a fun one, but these were the things I noticed or was annoyed with. Most of the cons are just things you deal with when using a campsite near a town, it's the fact that they weren't up front about the money that really bothers me, and especially not letting us trade in the shower tokens. read more

The reason I put five stars is because of the very few problems that I have with it. The problems is that the cart going up the mountain looked unsafe and unsteady, we almost got lost in the forest, and the place looked unsafe with some ice on the road. But to be on the positive side I loved everything! The beautiful view coming up the mountain, the view on the mountain, playing in the snow, looking at animals ( from a far away distance), the museum inside the building, the restaurant, and hiking in the beautiful mountain. Also seeing how fun it was to be there I was glad to be there when the snow wasn't melting yet. I think during winter and summer is the best season to be there. In the winter there's snow to play in, maybe skiing, and making a snow man. And in the summer you could see all the beautiful animals, plants, flowers, camping, and the beautiful view over the mountains. But since I was there during spring it was to see the beautiful snow and ice. And again, the reason why I put five stars was because it was a beautiful and wonderful place to be in. read more

I've been to palm springs a billion times, but for some crazy reason I had not gone up to this park until this weekend!! A friend of mine was telling me how since we love to hike we have to check it out, and if we were lucky we might see a patch of snow here or there.. (Now I am going to put all blame on her for the story I am about to tell... even though we are a family of gadgets so there is no reason on this planet we should not have checked the weather)... So we pulled up to the aerial tram that you have to take to the top to get to the park, and we noticed that everyone had their snow gear on (It is December but in palm springs... ummm... sure...). So I decided to grab my jacket to throw on over my yoga pants, t-shirt and gym shoes...and my husband grabbed his to go over his t-shirt and SHORTS... just in case there was something that the entire population but us knew... cause you know... we like to be prepared... As we crammed into the packed gondola with every ones puffy jackets and snow sleds... we started to notice that the higher we got the thicker the layer of snow got on the mountain side.... only to bring us to the top of our 8500 ft destination and BAM... WINTER WONDERLAND!!!!!! We are a couple of adventurers though... so the fact that it was snowing and a few ft of snow on the ground was not going to stop us... we did the responsible thing and bought a couple beanies, cheap knit mittens and a thin hoodie at the little gift shop and out of the lodge into the world we went! As we clutched onto the railing and tried to scale down the mountain to the trails (even people in full on snow gear were falling all over the place)... we took the comments of "you guys are definitely from California" as a compliment. We tried to play it off like we live in the snow so this is nothing... but I think when the snow fall level starts to reach mid thigh height... not even people from the snow are that foolish... We were still out there for about an hour though and hiked the small nature trail... I'm sure in normal weather that would have been a warm up hike... but considering the conditions we felt accomplished! It was just absolutely breathtaking though. I can not wait to hike up a storm in the spring up there or even go back in appropriate winter clothes! The sites are priceless and if you are into photography... the shots are endless!!!!!!! read more

Very walkable with a wee bit of a steep climb back to the tramway station. Great way to connect with nature and get some fresh air away from the desert sands below. Temperature is cooler by about 20 degrees, so be sure to bring a jacket even if it's a hot summer day. It snows here during winter and turns into a winter wonderland for sledding and snow angels. Now that the nice stuff are out of the way, let's get down to reality. Folks, stay on the trail and don't, I repeat, don't, go near the craggy edges of the mountain if you are squeamish about heights. There are absolutely no railings anywhere. Thrill seekers will get their adrenaline rush as they climb toward the highest peak and the furthest jutted out rocks. Heck, some even sat dangling their feet. Oh, no! not I. I kept my wits and my body safe at a distance from the edges while still enjoying the breathtaking views from the vistas. And no matter how "easy" they claim the hiking trails are, there will always be some steep slopes and rocky paths to tackle. Take care of those knees and ankles... And one more thing, if coming from Palm Springs area, you'll have to pay about $24 for the Aerial Tramway ride up to the mountain. read more

Such a beautiful and tranquil place to be! The ascent is calm, pleasurable and informative! We spent the morning and part of the the afternoon just walking the trails, taking pictures and getting "back to nature". Highly recommended for any time of year, as it was cool and comfortable up there. read more

Love this state park! I hiked to the top of Suicide Rock from Deer Springs Trail. The docent at the nature center told us it's about a 1700 ft elevation to the top. It's a cool trail that has a lot of little side branches to take in views of the valley. You need to get a free permit from the nature center, and you can park alongside the road near the trailhead. Be forewarned, once you get to the sign that points for Suicide Rock-- don't follow the sign directing you forward and to the right! You have to take a left behind the sign. My friend and I went totally off the trail, and although it was a cool adventure, we went in the totally opposite direction of Suicide Rock. We made a turnaround, and all was well-- that last bit of trail is the prettiest, with all the beautiful older trees that are several arm-lengths in circumference. There was even a small spring trickling its waters down the mountainside, which was cold and refreshing! The views from Suicide Rock are beautiful-- the mountains in the distance take on a blue hue, and you can see the dips in the land where there are small lakes and ponds. Definitely bring plenty of water and snacks, a hat would be good, and do wear sunscreen. We camped out in Idyllwild, which allowed us plenty of time to relax and enjoy the great weather afterwards before the drive home to San Diego. What a beautiful place. I can't wait to go back again. read more

Such fun! We took the Tram to the top and went for a nice long hike after lunch. We did two of the trails, which took us to some great lookout points for some breathtaking views. After our hike, we were pretty exhausted, and were dreading the long, steep walk back up to the visitor's center! Wish there was a faster/easier way back up! read more

Very cool hiking and nature trails with a real old time town with a few restaurants and shops. Worth a day trip if you are in the area.

Absolutely gorgeous hike up Deer Springs Trail last weekend. Not too hot, or cold. The trail is a challenge at a moderate pace. Very dusty/dirty by the time we made it back to the car, but definitely worth it! read more

Great hiking trails, and font worry about the crowds. Most will only walk a couple hundred yards and give up. All the trails are clearly marked. Plan on extra time getting back, since it will be uphill. read more

Recently hiked to the summit from Idyllwild, Devil's Slide route. It was a workout, but totally worth the effort. Gorgeous views and peaceful trails. We were blessed with beautiful weather and just had a blast. But at 10,834....the air was pretty thin :) read more

Very, very disappointed with the permit service. We are new backpackers, have never hiked Mt. San Jacinto, and have never used their permit services before. My group got screwed over by the rangers office. I had reserved a back country permit to camp on the mountain. We would've entered and exited from the PS Tramway. My original date to embark was postponed because I fell ill the week of. I called their offices (the number listed on Yelp) and asked if it was possible to reschedule the date. The officer informed me that it's definitely possible because the permit is valid for use within a certain amount of days so as long as we go within that time frame, we're good. I was able to change the dates to the 25th of June, that was a little over one month away from our original date. We were only going for 1 night. Fast forward to the week of our trip. Another friend wanted to come along. We called the rangers office to see if we can add him to our permit. They said yes, it's fine because the permit was good for 12 people? My friend had called in for this one. That didn't sound right so I asked if he can call again and double confirm. He calls again the next day. This time, they try to find my permit first, and we were informed that my permit is nowhere to be found in any of the 4 campgrounds that are available to camp at. When my friend told me this, I thought "impossible". The officer who helped me was very helpful and made it an easy conversation. He rescheduled me to camp at Little Round Valley on said weekend. He even gave me his name and badge # in case anything happens! My friend told me to call in (I had all the permit info) to clear it up. My phone wasn't working so I gave my friend all the info I had, including the officer who helped me, and asked him to call in to clear it up. The lady who helped him was unsympathetic to our situation. She said my original permit was ineligible and that the officer scribbled over it and it wasn't valid. And both Little Round Valley and Round Valley (our backup) campgrounds were full for said weekend. Geez, thanks for notifying me earlier. If we had never called in, we would've been double-screwed over when we got there. This place isn't a close drive for us and my group had to clear their schedules for this trip only to be screwed over? I was livid. Best part? The lady helping us made it seem like it was OUR fault for the permit mix-up. She said that the permit had the 25th of May written on it. That is not my fault. I confirmed twice with the officer about the date. He must have written it down wrong. Then she goes on to say that they only allow us to change dates once without incurring a fee. And then goes on to assume that we wanted to change our dates and she sounded so irritated because we've already changed it once. SHE was the one that was irritated. Sorry, were YOU just screwed over for your trip? Way to add to the stereotype of bad customer service for government agencies. I'd really like to think that there is a community of outdoors people that have the same interest: a love for the outdoors. And that we'd watch out for one another. I've never had a bad experience dealing with rangers or anyone involved with the outdoors. Until now. Of course, not everyone was a pain to talk to. Joyce from the office is a real sweetheart and really helpful! Hopefully you get to deal with her. Even then, ask for an electronic confirmation. The place gets 2 stars because Mount San Jacinto State Park is such an enormous place that this review isn't universally applied to every aspect of the park. All in all, it's a great place. Just do your due diligence and triple check any reservations you may have and don't take any bullshit from their offices. read more

Our family of 3 booked reservations online planning to meet up with 4 other families at this campground. Each family had 1-3 kids. The campground rules state maximum of 8 people per campsite, so we were fine. When we got there and tried to have dinner, rangers approached us and said you are NOT ALLOWED TO CONGREGATE IN GROUPS OF 8 OR MORE AT ANY GIVEN TIME. They forced our group to disband and we weren't allow to spend time together for our entire 3 day stay. Rangers patrol the campground every night, and if they catch more than 8 people around a campfire or in one area, they force you to separate. We weren't being loud, we were just eating hotdogs with our kids. It definitely ruined our vacation. I am not so much bothered that this rule exists, but I am bothered that they do not make this "no congregating" rule clear either on their website or on the sign out front. The website simply says "maximum 8 campers per campsite". If their rules stated "NO ASSEMBLING OR CONGREGATING IN GROUPS OF 8 OR MORE AT ANY TIME" it would be clear. Once you make your reservations online and 4 families show up, it's too late to change your plans. They very aggressively enforce this "no socializing" rule. The only thing I'll add is that the sound from traffic driving on the nearby roads that encircle the camp (and the fact that it must be located beneath a major flight path) is a much bigger disturbance than 9 people trying to eat hotdogs together. read more

Firstly I want to say that the forest rangers are wonderful and helpful and nothing that follows reflects on them. We planned a peaceful quiet get away months ago and were looking forward to unplugging and enjoying nature's peaceful Sounds. We checked in and drove to our assigned site that had such pretty pictures on reserve America. We parked the van and found no place to pitch a tent. The site was full of gully sand mostly at a forty five degree angle. I walked back to rangers nearly in tears and asked where the site really is cuz clearly there is no place for s tent. They apologized for reserve Americas misrepresentatIon and told me they have sent photos and descriptions but it is still not accurate. They tried to find another site but they were booked and could only give us two nights. Finally took pity on us and gave us a site usually reserved for the PCT hikers. Pretty site under trees backed up To busy highway. I tried to pretend the loud traffic was really a rushing river. Then at midnight until four am a loud couple screaming more eff words at each other than I have ever heard strung together. Sometimes just primal screams. Both of them. Didn't know who to call. So no sleep for me. Next day. Quieter in the day but the couple had another screaming match as motorcycles gunned their engines as they drive by. Not much sleep again. Next night the weekenders arrived with screaming kids. Loud music and very loud drunken games of would you rather. I was tempted to band pots and pans outside their tents at five am but didn't. The advertised camp grounds says walked distance to town. No. IN THE TOWN at busy intersection All other campgrounds were booked or we would have left. Camp Host made no effort to quiet the rowdies. Never ever would come here again. Ever. read more

Jake the ranger went out of his way to assist us with hiking maps and a tour of the ranger station. He really lives up to the standard. His enthusiasm for the area was catching. He is a great ambassador for the state park system! Thanks, Jake. You made our visit really special, and we felt more confident knowing you were down there while we backpacked. read more

we had intentions of hiking san jacinto peak on a Saturday. however, the first mistake we did was not call the night before to check the weather condition. we arrive to the tramway and discover there's snow on the trail and on the peak! one of the rangers we ran into advised us not to hike to the peak as of the risky trail conditions. this hindered us from climbing to the peak. nonetheless, we're going back next month. the tramway area itself is super busy but the trail isn't so populated. there are absolutely breathtaking spots @ the meadow divide which is were we turned around. if you go during fall/winter/even spring, i HIGHLY suggest you call the day before to make sure it's not snowing. read more

Mt. San Jacinto is a beautiful park and provides one of the best hiking places near Los Angeles. The access to Idyllwild and the park campgrounds are a great plus. A hike up the Devils Slide trail never disappoints! I loved my stay at Stone Creek Campground within the State Park, check it out on my blog here: tenttalktime.com/stone-creek read more

just hike the peak 10,834 in elevation! yesterday w/my BF! wow great work out, once you get to the top the amazing views are very rewarding, such a wounderful experience I recommend to anyone. On hike back down knees were screaming for help LOL.. and then the thunderstorm starting but iloved every minute of it, make sure your well prepared the wheather can be very unpredictable. read more

We started at around 10am with good boots and weather gear. DO NOT go into these trails without good hiking boots and water. The Deer Trail is a good one and is about 3.3 miles to the top. We decided to come back down and made the circle by 12 noon. Easy to mederate and no scaling. Great views of the whole mountainside. read more

I have never been challenged like this in my life. My friends and I decided to go camping last summer, and I let a few of them organize it while I kicked back. I didn't know anything about Mt. San Jacinto until the day of our hike. I didn't know how many miles it would be, I didn't know how long it would take, and I was hoping my bottle of water would be enough (it was not). One of my friends had a map and I trusted him blindly. At some point, he told us we were halfway and I was surprised because it had only taken us an hour. Most of our group decided to turn around then, but two others and I wanted to continue. We had a water bottle and two Nature Valley bars each. We thought it would be enough. It was not. Turns out, the "halfway point" was halfway up the first trail - we had (if I can recall correctly) four more trails to go and it wasn't getting any less steep. The sun beat down on our necks, and my calves begged for mercy, but my eyes cried for more. We found a creek on the way and although we didn't have purifiers, out of desperation we filled our bottles up where the moss was thickest and continued our journey. The water did not sit well in my stomach, but by the time we made it to the peak, I couldn't care less how I felt. THE VIEW WAS SPECTACULAR! EVERY STEP HAD BEEN WORTH IT! There really are no words to describe the view of Palm Springs on one side and a streak of ocean on the other with nothing but trees, desert, and mountains scattered everywhere else. YOU HAVE TO GO SEE IT. We didn't bring our cellphones (as you can probably tell, we were not prepared), but a kind gentleman took some photos for us. We then spent a good amount of time just staring before willing ourselves to turn around. The journey up was fun, but the journey back was a nightmare. We got lost in the white rocks for 45 minutes. A man and his son took pity on us and gave us two granola bars (which went to my two friends) and a bag of peanuts (which we shared). I did not dare drink the creek water again and spent the rest of the trip staring at the dirt because every time I looked up, the trees were expanding and shrinking in my vision (a sign of dehydration - not good). Our journey did not end when we hit the pavement because we had to walk the windy road back to camp. When we saw our tents in the distance, we ran screaming with joy (I probably would've cried too if I had any water to spare). We left at 10:30AM and got back around 7:30PM. Apparently, we took the Marion Trail which is short and steep; I'm not sure about the mileage because some people say its 10 miles (roundtrip) from the trailhead while others argue 17. It was a painful experience but one I will never, ever take back. Albeit ridiculously underprepared (one of the boys wore jeans for crying out loud), hiking through the dehydration and hunger made the view that much prettier. It wasn't until we got back that we realized we could've taken some emergency snacks from the little cabin at the top; if we'd known, we could've avoided rationing a small bag of peanuts between three ravenous mouths. So many lessons learned. Granted, I will return to Mt. San Jacinto, but with water bottles (emphasis on the "s"), hats, a filter, food, proper clothing, and a camera. RECOMMENDED FOR EVERYONE WITH STRENGTH OF WILL AND THE COMMON SENSE TO BRING LOTS OF WATER. It also helps to be in shape. read more