My dad and I did our first trip up to the San Jacinto Peak on Father's Day weekend. We're planning on doing San Jacinto, San Gorgornio in August or September, and Mt Whitney next year if we can get in the lottery.
We started in Idyllwild at the Deer Springs Trail Head at around 9 am Saturday. We were a bit nervous just leaving our truck on the side of the road in the turn out, but there were lots of day hikers around so we just parked next to a Land Rover and hoped for the best.
We took our time going up and didn't really have any idea of how long it'd take to get to Little Round Valley. Not too long into the hike we were greeted by the trail hosts, er uh, gnats, and they stayed with us just about all the way to Little Round Valley.
We stopped at Strawberry Junction for some lunch and to take a break in the shade. The break was short lived as neither of us could keep the gnats away longer than a few seconds and of course, neither of us brought any deet, so we were back on the trail quickly.
The rest of the hike was really quite nice. There was lots of water flowing down the trail. Unfortunately, we did see a couple folks take a spill in the mud, but all were okay.
Once we finally made it to Fuller Ridge, we were really excited to get to our campsite at Little Round Valley and get some dinner going. Now, the map said it was about a mile, but that had to be the longest dang mile I've ever hiked!
We made it to Little Round Valley around 4:00 or so. Neither of us had been to Little Round Valley and with the lack of any real signs, we would've probably cruised right on by if we didn't stop to talk with some guys at the creek.
We picked our spot and got set up pretty quickly. After filtering our water and making dinner, we were in the tent and out for the night. I know I had the best sleep while camping that night for sure.
We got up early in the morning and headed out for the peak after some breakfast. We didn't pass anyone en route so we figured we were the first ones up on Sunday. From Little Round Valley, it only took us about an hour to get to the hut. We checked that out and made a couple phone calls back home to let everyone know we were still alive lol.
Up on the peak it was pretty windy, but the view was spectacular! We took a ton of pictures, enjoyed the view and some conversation and headed back down to pack up camp and hike out. From Little Round Valley, it took us just over four hours to get back to the car.
