The Worst Hiking Blog Ever: San Jacinto Solo Summit Attempt

View 3/19/11 San Jacinto Snow Summit - Aborted in a larger map

I was originally supposed to go hiking with the Los Angeles Hiking Meetup Group, but I was short on time and concerned for the weather and decided to take the first tram up and do what I could. Not knowing the terrain well enough, going solo, and getting caught in a whiteout added to a slightly more stressful hike than I'm used to, but I survived. :)

I ended up ascending to over 10,200ft. Not bad for still having a cold. I did about 6.8 miles roundtrip but it took almost 6 hours. I just couldn't go faster with the ice.

At the lower tram station

Once at the top, I noticed how different the conditions were from the last time I was there. The snow, once powdery and soft, was now frozen over into an awkward lumpy ice that was impossible for snowshoes. I also realized that there was no clear direction to hike. Fortunately there was a guy, named Bob, who checked in at the ranger station just before me and I started following him. He was a bit of a weird one and at one point turned around and said "oh, I didn't know you were still following me. I'm just kinda wandering around aimlessly." We parted ways at the lower end of Round Valley, where I picked up the trail from the seasonal ranger station.

Bob "leading" me

Lower end of Round Valley

I started following these guys

I was starting to wonder about this

I remember swinging left around this mountain the last time I summited and I was following a group that was stubbornly pushing up the steepest part of the peak. I stopped for a break and weighed my options. I could've continued up and hoped to find the main trail to the summit, or turn back. As I was sitting there, I notice clouds overhead and the winds picking up. The clouds were moving in. I decided, especially since I was alone, that I'd turn back. Good thing too, because I was about to get trapped in my first whiteout.

The point of return

My first whiteout

Thankfully I was able to follow my GPS track back down. There were so many impromptu trails made from boots and snowshoes that it was hard to tell where to go. There were several times I checked the GPS track to find that I'd wandered away and hadn't even realized it.

The weather started to clear a bit and once I found the stream, I knew it'd be easy to make my way back.