Palm Springs, CA - Cross One Thing off the Bucket List

I don’t have many things on my bucket list. I just want to travel around visiting as many areas of this great country as I can. And, believe me, both Gary and I enjoy everything we see. However, I’m developing one as I travel and see so many more things than I have before. For example, we have been to southern Utah twice in the past 5 years, once to explore and visit all the National Parks, and the second time to spend more time in one area that I hadn’t ever heard of until our first visit. We still have things we want to explore further in Utah. Another example: we’ve visited Palm Springs 4 times in the past 5 years and every time we look up at Mount San Jacinto, lording it over the valley. Several years ago, we attempted to climb it but were unsuccessful since the snow was 2’ deep on the top.

Surprisingly, given our lack of equipment, we got fairly close to the top before we had to turn around to get down before dark. Last year Gary wasn’t feeling well and we didn’t try. But San Jacinto kept calling to me and every time I looked up, I wanted to climb it. It became a goal, an item for my bucket list.

Well, this year was another opportunity. Of course the trick with San Jacinto is that it is 10,834’ high but you don’t have to climb that far - there is a tram which will take you to the 8516 mark and let you out to begin your climb from there. How neat is that? However, the tram makes its first run up the mountain at 10:00 on weekdays and 8:00 on weekends. Given how slowly I climb (I’m not 24 years old any more) I need to start at 8:00. So, a Saturday climb it is.

Up at 5:30 (OOF-DA) so we can get a good breakfast and be on our way to make the 8:00 tram. We know that the temperature at the top of the tram is 30 degrees cooler than the temp in the valley, in Palm Springs. Since PS was supposed to have a high of 70, we planned for a high of 40 and, boy, were we ever dressed: long underware, nylon hiking pants, wool hiking socks, a wicking t-shirt, a long-sleeve thicker wicking layer, a long sleeve hiking shirt and a windbreaker. I looked like the Pillsbury Doughboy. We both also took stocking hats and gloves. We were ready for the temperatures.

We arrived at the tram station, grabbed our equipment, ran inside, bought our tickets and were off. Now, an 8000’ climb in a tram suspended by wires is not really my thing. Every time we came to one of the huge supports where the angle of the wires changed, we lurched a bit and my stomach lurched a bit more. Don’t look down they say but that’s hard since that’s the only way to look. But, I kept busy with taking pictures and tried to distract my stomach. Here’s the tram car shadow on the rocks of the cliff on our side. Look, can you see anything holding it up? I didn’t think so. Neither can I.

And, finally we were at the top. ‘Not bad, right, Nancy?’ Easy for you to say - I’ve still got to get down.

We had heard that there was very little snow on the trail and we were fine with that. Shortly into the hike, we noticed that we were both plenty warm so we began to strip and each of us took off 2 of our upper layers. Difficult to take off the long underwear out here on the trail - at least not without lots of laughter.

What a beautiful climb and so different from what we usually hike through. This was a mountainous, piney rocky woodsy hike, not the usual desert hike. It’s difficult to get lost on a desert hike unless you’re in some deep canyons since you can see for so far. Here in the woods, it would be so easy. Parts of the trail were icy and snow packed but we could walk along the edges or on the boulders which lined the trails in parts.

Other than the top of San Jacinto, the most stunning views on this hike are from Wellman’s Divide which is a saddle between two peaks.

Form here you can see across several other ranges in the west and off towards the Salton Sea in the south. I don’t think I could ever get tired of this kind of view. In my opinion, you can never have too many photos of the sunset over the ocean nor too many photos of layers of mountains ranges.

Here are some pictures of the trail. It was a Saturday and we were not alone on the trail. We kept running into the same Boy Scout troop which was actually staying for 2 nights in the campground in the middle of the hike. I’m glad that we were returning to our warm soft bed in the RV. Our food was probably easier to cook, too. At one point the scouts were talking about what they were having for dinner. One wanted the beef strogonoff, the other wanted the chicken dumplings. Must have been freeze-dried packets. Gary overhead a discussion about girls. Pretty typical teens, these young men were.

The top 50’ of the hike was all large boulders to clamber over. No trail here, every hiker for her or himself. Here’s the view towards Palm Springs in the valley below and Joshua Tree National Park on the horizon with those pesky boulders in front. You can almost see the hand prints on them.

We finally summitted and the 360 degree views were amazing.

Near the top of San Jacinto is a cabin for those who get caught at the top in bad weather. Beds, shelves and this rescue equipment up in the rafters.

But, hey, let’s get back to the stunning views. That’s what we’re here for.

Somehow the hike back down seemed so much longer than the hike up. But, I’ve got it on good authority that it was the same distance. Since the temperatures seemed warmer than we had anticipated, we had thought that we might want to take off some more clothing as we hiked especially as we hiked some ways in the sun. However, the warmth of the sum was balanced off by the coolness of the higher elevations and we seemed dressed correctly for the entire hike. I did put on my gloves for the final descent. My hands were getting cold and dry.

Found this old fallen tree near the trail.

Back at the tram station, we waited in line for the descent. We were in a large group and then I noticed this sign: 80 people and 1 operator at 14,290 or 176 lbs per person.

Surely that’s too many. Way too many. But we all got on the tram and were heading down. Looks like a full car here.

Luckily, on the way down, I got to chatting with a woman who was living in San Diego for a year with her husband who was working with extreme sports. Here’s a view of where we’re going - all the way down - you can’t even see all the way down.

She and her daughter were visiting San Jacinto for the day. At the end of the trip down, we both thanked each other for distracting the other.

In town we decided on Panera for dinner. Warm soup, a sandwich, what could be better? Love Panera. We like not only the bagels and coffee for breakfast but the soup and sandwiches for dinner. But, don’t think we don’t try the Mom and Pop restaurants. They are our favorite place for breakfast. I’m thinking this week will find us at the Mission Restaurant on Pacific Beach. Their rosemary potatoes are scrumptious.

What a fun day and I can scratch that off the bucket list. Ummm, maybe not - we might do that one again.

12.5 2800’ straight up.