Day Hike Training: San Jacinto State Park, ~4 miles

I took the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway up to Mt. San Jacinto today to practice my mountaineering/snow travel skills. Not only is it a fun novelty to take the rotating tram car, but it gets you up in elevation (and snow) quickly and easily. I brought my ice axe and hiking crampons with me. I already owned microspikes, but, additionally, I bought the Kahtoola K10 hiking crampons because I don't want to mess around with this year's snowpack in the Sierra-Nevada mountains. I can always replace the crampons with my microspikes along the way if I find that they are overkill. I also recently acquired snowshoes at an REI garage sale that I wanted to test out. I am excited to do some snowshoeing in future winters, and, in addition, they are a very unlikely backup in case I need them in the Sierra as well.

When I got to the mountain station of the tramway, I could see the snow melt in full effect. There was patches of dirt exposed and the trail to the ranger station was fully exposed.  Considering that I wont come through the area for several weeks, it could look even better by the time I hit it.

Melt! Melt! Melt!

The tram I came up on was full of snowshoers and they got to the ranger station first. While they were talking to the ranger I started to fill out my permit. Permits to go into the San Jacinto Wilderness are required, but free. It is a good way to monitor the area's usage and be alerted if someone doesn't exit when they were supposed to.

The ranger finished talking to the snowshoe group and asked me to come inside when I was finished. I got the impression that the rangers make a point to talk to every person who goes by to make sure they know what the dangers they were getting themselves into, which I appreciate. I let him know the equipment I had with me and that I was practicing skills, so I wasn't going too far. My plan was to head up to Round Valley and back. He said that heading to Round Valley with spikes was fine, but past there the snow was pretty deep and required snowshoes. Since I had them with me he said that I could also head as far up towards Wellman’s Divide as I felt comfortable going.

After I left the ranger station, I headed down the wilderness trail. The trail itself was mostly exposed with some snow patches here and there. I didn't even need to put on traction until I was quite a ways down the trail. Once I finally put my crampons on, I ended up bumping into the snowshoeing group doing the same thing. I told them I was taking the trip really slow and would wait for them to go first. When they finally left, they went up the trail to the right. I was confused because we were next to a sign that said Round Valley was to the left. It was then that I realized there was an obvious leader to the group and it was probably a snowshoeing class. They were not going to Round Valley.

Even with that clarification I was still confused by the sign. It led directly over a creek. It took me a moment to recognize the area from when I hike it during the summer. The trail absolutely led over the creek. It is just that the creek is usually dry during the summer. #unexpectedwatercrossing. I found some logs to gingerly make my way across without getting my feet wet, then headed up the snow trail.

The creek in the morning.

Even though I was going uphill in the snow it was very pleasant. The crampons had a nice grip to them, the forest was peaceful, the creek was beautiful (partly exposed under snow bridges) complete with mini waterfalls, and the trail was already cut and easy to follow. Before I knew it I had hit Round Valley.

Trail to Round Valley.

The creek with snow bridges.

I had to laugh because the first structures I saw were the two outhouses at the Round Valley campground. They were partially buried in snow.  However, someone (rangers i am assuming) had dug out the front, including a couple snow steps to make them usable. Whoever did that is awesome. Nearby were the navigation signs. They were just barely visible thanks to someone digging them out as well.

Round Valley outhouses.

At Round Valley I put on my snowshoes and tested them out, heading in the direction of Wellman’s Divide. The trail leading up had not been cut yet, so I used my phone for navigation. I had checked Google Maps  (which you can use for navigation while in airplane mode) before I left and saw that the trails in the area were on the Google Maps app. I also had a paper map/compass for back up, but the phone is easier since it gives you real time positioning. The trail in Google Maps is pretty detailed and accurate, so I followed that for a while. Eventually, I headed back down, since I still had errands to run today.

Round Valley.

On my way back I ran into a young couple with day packs (and no snowshoes) who were headed to the peak. I'm not sure they knew what they were getting into. I repeated the ranger's warning about not going up without snowshoes but they seemed insistent about pressing on. As I was little worried about them, I showed them how to use Google Maps to navigate offline if they got lost. Then they continued to head up while I headed back down.

When I got back to the navigation signs I thought it would be fun to get a picture of me next to the buried sign. I propped my camera up one of the signs and, just as I got my shot lined up, a man on skis came through the trees. Why set up the timer when you can have someone take the picture for you?

The man took my picture for me and then we chatted for a bit. His name was Colt (or Colton?) and he had been backcountry skiing for the past couple days. He seemed to know the area very well. He had a bit of adventure yesterday as he skied a little too far downhill of his campsite, requiring an annoying uphill journey to get back. Even more crazy was that he was carrying an 80 lb pack. I can't even imagine that. He fully admitted that it could be about 30 lbs lighter.  Yikes.

Me next to the navigation signs in Round Valley.

After he left, I packed up my things and followed the footprints thinking about how far the young couple would get, Colt’s 80 lb pack, and which errands to run first when I got back.  While I was thinking about that I ran into a log crossing that I didn't remember. I checked my navigation and I had taken the wrong trail at the junction while I was deep in thought and simply following footprints. I backtracked to the junction and took the correct trail, checking Google Maps every couple minutes to confirm it was correct trail.

The trail coming down was definitely softer than earlier and the creek had more water. I knew these things happened with snow travel, but it is always beneficial to see them first hand. I passed several day hikers who asked me if I had gone to the peak. I'm not sure people understand what it takes to get to the peak. Its a tough hike even when there is no snow.

The creek in the early afternoon.

Eventually, I got to a part of the trail where the footprints disappeared.  I checked the map and continued in the direction the trail was headed, even though the map showed the trail to be a bit to my left. That didn't quite make sense to me since the creek was to my left. I saw a couple people on the other side of the creek. I just assumed that it was the snowshoe class finishing up. I kept going and used the opportunity to practice traversing steep slopes that didn't have paths already cut and was pretty happy with how well the crampons worked.

Eventually I started to worry because I hadn't seen the trail for a bit. I checked the map and it still said I was following the direction of the trail, but just to the left of it. I looked across the creek and wondered if I should just cross to the other side since it was flater. Then I noticed some dirt. The dirt actually looked like a trail.  Were there two parallel trails on each side of the creek? Is that what the snowshoe class took? Then I noticed the bridge on the dirt path. I crossed that bridge! I wasn't even wearing crampons at that point.

Ugh. That stupid #unexpectedwatercrossing. No wonder the footprints disappeared. It was again unrecognizable because there was now more water in the creek than this morning. Rather than backtracking, I found a shallow part of the creek to cross. I took off my crampons, rinsed them off, and rejoined the dirt trail back to the ranger station.

At the ranger station I put my copy of the permit in the return box (so the rangers know you are back) and headed towards the mountain station. It was buzzing by then. There were tons of kids running around the valley and a lot of people in the station. I hit the bathroom and was about to enter the tram waiting area when I heard my name. I was shocked to see one of my elasmobranch (sharks and rays) research colleagues. I actually haven't seen Dovi in a couple years. The last place I would expect to run into one of my marine bio buddies would be on top of a mountain! It turns out he was on his honeymoon with his new wife, Dallas, in Palm Springs and they took the tram that day. Congratulations Dovi and Dallas! We chatted for a bit and then I took the tram back down to finally tackle those errands.