San Jacinto Trail Mileage Handout

[simonov]

I have spent a lot of time in the last 30 years in the San Gorgonio Wilderness and have often found the Forest Service's Trail Mileage Handout invaluable for planning hikes (even if it isn't 100% accurate).

Recently I started paying more attention to the San Jacinto Wilderness and State Park, but I could not find a comparable single-page resource. So I decided to create one myself. You can download the latest version from here (edited link).

The San Jacinto handout is modeled broadly after the San G version, though there is a lot more information. For example, in addition to cumulative mileage from one point to another, I include mileage per leg. I also find it fun and useful to see what kind of elevation gain or loss a hike or portion of a hike entails.

All these additional numbers risk making the handout rather cumbersome to use. I'd like to hear what people think about that.

Another difficulty, of course, is how many different areas are accessible from each trailhead. So I broke the various hikes down. This results in, again, a cumbersome document, with many repeated legs (for example, once you are at Wellmans Divide, it's the same way out to Long Valley no matter where you started). I will have to edit those down as I add trails and destinations (this first version has no mention of Laws or Caramba). Again, suggestions or advice would be appreciated.

The elevations and mileages are from the Tom Harrison map. It looks like Tom Harrison got his mileages from the State Park map, but the latter does not show elevations at campsites or key junctions.

I started a thread about this over on the Eispiraten board, but I reckon there are more San Jacinto experts here and you guys might have more to suggest about how to perfect this document.

[Sally]

Your document is so super cool! Thank you! I have spent a lot of time trying to figure that stuff out both before and after hikes because I like to know what I'm getting myself into and also what I've accomplished.

[guest]

Hi Simonov,

Thanks for taking the time & effort to compile this list, very helpful to us!

Now we can mix & match when ever we want to up there.

ss

[jfr]

Extremely nice document! I already have it saved.

You picked the trails well, as those four (Deer Springs, Marion Mtn, Humber Park/Devil's Slide, and the Long Valley/Tram) are the most popular start points.

A couple of other useful ones might be the Seven Pines Trail, the Fuller Ridge Trail ( on the PCT starting at the Fuller Ridge TH), and the full PCT grind up the mountain from Snow Creek Village.

Another one (not on the official maps) would be the Skyline Trail from the Palm Springs Art Museum to the Tram. My GPS puts that one at 9.15 miles and 8060 feet net elevation gain. Other people's numbers will undoubtedly differ. Yet another would be the new, legal route up Snow Creek, but calling it a "trail" might be going too far...

Anyway, I found it most interesting to note which trail had the highest feet/mile "Agony Factor": The Marion Mountain Trail to Little Round Valley. I did that back in 2009 with a very heavy pack, and it was truly the hardest hike of a series of "training" hikes we did in preparation for a week in Kings Canyon. In other words, it isn't a hike to take out-of-shape n00bs on, as they may never speak to you again.

[Nick-SJM]

Nice reference chart. You might want to recheck the consistency of the Humber Park to Tahquitz Peak calculations. I think it used a single leg for one calculation and a two leg with Humber Park for another, resulting in an error for the vertical feet by leg of 1,314.

Otherwise, a helpful tool. I agree that Fuller Ridge would be a good addition.

Nick

[simonov]

Nice reference chart. You might want to recheck the consistency of the Humber Park to Tahquitz Peak calculations. I think it used a single leg for one calculation and a two leg with Humber Park for another, resulting in an error for the vertical feet by leg of 1,314.

Thanks for that. The entire document is based on a spreadsheet and for some reason I did the calculation wrong there. I have uploaded a corrected version and changed the link in the opening post.

I would welcome hearing about any other mistakes folks find.

I will add additional trailheads later this week, and will continue to revise the document with corrections and additions. I should be stored permanently someplace besides Google docs (perhaps on http://www.mitchbarrie.net/), But Google docs will work for now.

[bluerail]

Even though I try not to make eye contact with mileage charts, it is really cool Mitch. I agree with the snowcreek pct/ fuller ridge addition. although the "route" thing...not so much.

very nice, that looks like it was alot of work.

[simonov]

Ayeup. From now on the latest updated version of the document can be found at the following URL:

http://www.mitchbarrie.net/files/san_ja ... leages.pdf

[simonov]

I have posted v0.2 to that link. I added Fuller Ridge and Seven Pines. It is now two pages long. I still don't have Laws and Caramba.

I'm a little dissatisfied with the routes out of Seven Pines and Marion Mountain. There is a junction of four trails including the PCT at 8,640 feet just above Marion Mountain. I think it would help if I included that junction in the routes, but I don't have a name for it. Is there a local name by which it is known?

There are a lot of numbers in the charts and I am a little tired of looking at them. If there is anyone really anal around here who enjoys checking up on stuff like that, I'd appreciate a little proofreading.

[jfr]

You asked for some help proof reading. And I know how the numbers begin to swim after too long staring at charts like these. So here's one error:

I noticed on your new version that the distance between Little Round Valley and SJ Peak changed from 1.6 miles to 0.5 miles. The park's pdf map shows 1.0 miles from LRV up the hill, then 0.3 to the peak and another 0.3 back (I assume that this is where the original 1.6 came from).

Other than that - what a great resource! Thanks to your latest addition of trails I am now seriously thinking about backpacking to LRV via the Fuller Ridge trail. 1500 feet less climbing and only 1.5 miles longer. Nice! This sounds like a much better hike for n00bs, and I've heard the views are great on Fuller Ridge...