San Jacinto via Mt Marion trail in April

[jennlc]

Hello,

So happy to find a forum! I am wondering if anyone can provide some tips about hiking in mid April? I am curious as to whether we will be dealing with any left over snow, I was in the Big Bear area last weekend (3/27-3/29) and noticed quite a bit on the neighboring ranges. The best I can estimate is the snow occurs at an elevation above 7,000 ft - can anyone confirm? I also know that the weekend was quite warm and if that weather pattern continues we might be in for some slush, if so, what equipment do you recommend? We have the basics but don't want to put ourselves at a significant disadvantage. We will be hiking via Mt. Marion to start and descending on the opposite side, looping back through Strawberry Junction.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[Hikin_Jim]

It's hard to say. You're bound to have some snow. I know there are still significant amounts of snow on N facing slopes, particularly shaded ones. What we need is an in person account a few days before your trip...

HJ

[OldnSlow]

We just went up from Humber Park last Saturday. Certainly some patches in shady, north facing spots, but only one area where spikes could have helped, and that was only about a quarter of a mile. Lots of tram based hikers heading up with no problems. I think you'll be fine if you just tread carefully through the snowy patches.

[Fred]

I went up Seven Pines on Saturday there is snow in places, spikes might be helpful.

Fred

[DUG]

I went up the Marion Mountain trail to San J peak on Tuesday. The trail is clear and snow free until the all the way to the PCT. Shortly after the turn off to Fuller Ridge the trail disappears under some snow for a 1/3 mile or so. In the morning it was no problem following via GPS. Coming back down the snow had softened some and I did some postholing. It was a very enjoyable training hike.

[jennlc]

Thank you all for the info, I think our group will be ready for this weekend. We are planning on a few cold nights and will probably skip any sort of spikes this time around. The weather - at the moment - seems to be pretty perfect.

[Norris]

Hi, just did Marion mountain trail yesterday. Trail is almost completely dry, there are a few brief stretches with packed snow, but these are either easily bypassed by stepping on rocks on the side of the trail or they are so dirt-covered that there is no hazard. Definitely don't need micro spikes.