Hi all, just checking in to keep this Board rolling along! Ellen and I have been summitting San Jacinto on a fairly regular basis since late spring, usually by way of Marion Mountain Trail. We usually enjoy winter summits as well, but this year’s snow was pretty crummy, and we made a few attempts that did not result in eating lunch on the Peak.
Early this summer we noticed that the water in Little Round Valley was drying up rapidly, and since we like to do an annual overnighter in LRV, we hastily threw a trip together. We started at Deer Springs TH, set up camp in LRV, and then went to pump water for dinner and breakfast. We found a bug infested puddle in the “stream bed” and pumped enough water for dinner and breakfast. We did have a lovely evening and morning lazying around camp with no need to summit. We were able to top off our water at Bed Springs on the way back out on day 2. It was a fabulous trip but we made the observation that this kind of fun gets harder the older we get.
Since then, we have made several trips up to the Peak via Marion Mountain Trail, and we choose this trail mainly because if you start REALLY early you can beat the bugs and the heat. By early, I mean starting in the dark. That way, you can be most of the way there before late morning when the heat sets in. We did see the progression of a few wildflowers over the course of the few summer months. When the unusually more active monsoon season started up we witnessed the creeks and springs being replenished, and some of the dried up vegetation perked up too. Even the stream through LRV had more water in it than during our backpack trip in early June!
Two weeks ago I managed to blow out my knee on the steep descent of Marion, so I am taking it easy until it feels better. I have had plenty of time to obsess over the Fairview Fire and how close it has gotten to my most favorite of my So Cal Mountains, Mt San Jacinto. I am rejoicing over the rains that have given the firefighters a chance at stopping it short of annihilating our beautiful mountain. I know that the mountain is still not completely safe of the peril of that fire, but I feel confident that it will be ok.
Anyhow, that’s what we have been up to. I will post pictures if I can figure out how. So…I hope to see y’all on the trail soon! Take care!