Mount San Jacinto State Park — Attraction in Idyllwild-Pine Cove

Great hike with amazing views. 12 miles out and back trail. 10,834 ft peak. 2318 ft. gain. I could see Catalina island and the Salton sea with the 360 views. Beware elevation. Some people had trouble breathing. I did ok. Mostly shady but ridgeline exposed. Limited to no cell service. Few spots on ridgline worked. 2 hour drive from San Diego to get to Palm Springs tram. Got to tram station at 730. 10 dollars to park. I was unable to buy a ticket online so had to go to ticket booth 28$. They said they only sell about 30 tickets online per hour and rest are walkup. Plenty of room in cars. I think 60-80 capacity. 9 min. ride up. Amazing views of the desert as the floor rotates. Once at the top station head out back to the trail area. You'll go down a pretty steep cement ramp. At the bottom is a ranger station where you need to get your permit. The ranger gave us info on where to return as to not get on wrong trail. All set. I head out on trail which starts to climb right away. Not to bad first 2 miles then the steepness hits. About a mile with some serious elevation gain. Once you hit round valley at 9100 ft. your about halfway there. It's uphill still but not quite as steep. Just long and steady. Near wellman divide you will turn and be on a long ridgeline with a few switchbacks. I had limited cell service on the ridgeline with Verizon. Was able to send few message out here. Keep goin up the ridgeline with amazing views of Palm Springs and Salton sea. You come to a final switchback and its about .3 miles from there. At the top is a mild rock scramble. Not too bad. Took about 3 hours to the top. Took few minutes at top for pics and snack. Headed back down. Long and steady downhill. Trail rocky in alot of spots and other parts a cleaner trail. Made to the ranger station and turned in my permit. Then I headed back to the tram. About 3 hours down. Made it to tram at 3:45. In my car by 4p.m. I forgot about the steep uphill cement walkaway. Ugh. Kicked my butt. Especially after a 12 mile hike at altitude. Everyone was taking breaks at the switchbacks on this walkway. It was fairly crowded in this area since alot of people come to this point and no further. The tram area was busy so I got in the boarding area and got on the next tram. I waited 5 minutes and was heading down the mountain. Got down and made it to the car. Ahh. What a day but...

This was a beautiful park. We went up to the top of the mountain in the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. When you park there are bus shuttle to take you to the tram, if not it is a step climb. The Tramway ride is beautiful but it does spin so if you get vertigo or just are uncomfortable with the height and slow spinning get into the middle where there is a rail to steady yourself. On the way down from the tram they blast fun tunes that helps celebrate and take your mind of the decline/spinning. We did not eat at the restaurant but it looked nice. The bathrooms were older but clean. The park itself had some amazing views, there are two main walking trails you can do. I went with my sister and my sixty five year old mom. My mom who used to be an avid hiker in Arizona but hadn't hiked in a year or so needed to stop a few times to catch her breath, but overall she did very well and only had a tad struggle going up the mountain back to the tram. So it you are moderately fit you should be fine and if lightly active you may need a breath stop or two but should be fine. The air is crisp and the sights...

A bit of caution if visiting the east side of San Jacinto. The current 1996 USGS Topo map shows a trail zig zagging from Tamarack Valley up the side of Mt San Jacinto. In June of 2012, the lower end of the trail in the Tamarack Valley was substantially obliterated, difficult to even make out. At the upper end of the trail, where the old trail joins with the traverse trail from Wellman Divide, the old trail had also been erased.

We inquired at the ranger station, and were informed that the old trail had been built in the 1930s by the CCC, but that the old trail had since been "removed". Sounds just like our government - they pay to have a trail built, then they pay to have the trail removed, and then they wonder why people don't want to pay more in taxes.

The middle switchback section of the trail is still usable, but appears our government made a concerted effort to erase the upper and lower ends...