Peaks visible from San Jacinto

[HikeUp]

Are there any peaks in Mexico that can be seen from the top of Mt. San Jacinto?

When I was on top sometime around 1990, the air was incredibly clear and I remember seeing all sorts of distant peaks in all directions but had no idea what I was looking at.

I vaguely remember seeing downtown L.A. and the ocean, but this could my imagination replacing my memory. I do know that it was clear enough to see that far but I am not sure if downtown L.A. is blocked by any intervening hills or whatever.

Anyone have information/links on such things?

[dhstein313]

Yes you can see LA and even Catalina Island to the West. To North you can see Telescope Peak in Death Valley. To the South I think the furthest that can be seen is Palamar and Cuyamaca Mountains in the Cleveland NF. I doubt whether MX could be seen.

D

[AlanK]

At Keys View in Joshua Tree, there is a sign identifying a mountain in Baja that is visible on a clear day (such days are getting rarer out there). The distance is no greater than the distance from Mt. San Jacinto. One needs to look for in-between peaks blocking the view. I need a better Baja map to do that. Maybe we should enlist Wayne from the WPS Board. He has identified hundreds of peaks visible from Whitney.

[marmot]

thats really neat on some days, you could see downtown la from the top. You can also see downtown from the the top of cucamonga peak. im not too far from the area (ucla)

[magikwalt]

I have an aerial photo in my office from the east end of CV and it shows San Jac, San G, Sugarloaf Mt and Mt. Baldy all snow capped. There are several mountain tops to the south of San Jac but I can't identify them.

The Desert Map store in Palm Desert has a great selection of aerials to check out as well as a nice selection of maps.

[halhiker]

Mexico cannot be seen from San Jacinto due to the Santa Rosa Mountains being in the way. You can see all the way to Mexico from Keys View because all that's in the way is the Salton Sea. Nothing obstructs the view.

From San Jacinto, on a clear day, you can see almost forever. Just a few things which can be seen from the top of the Peak:

Mount San Gorgonio
Mount Baldy
Saddleback Mountain
Mount Palomar Observatory
Joshua Tree
Several East Mojave Ranges (Providence Mountains, Granite Mountains, New York Mountains)
Mount Charleston (outside of Vegas)
Catalina
The southern Sierra Nevada

With binoculars you can also see a lot of the buildings in the Coachella Valley.

[AlanK]

The Mexican peak I was looking at with TOPO! is 6130' tall and 121 miles from San Jacinto (19 degrees east of true south). There is anoyther 3900' peak that is 95 miles away, 9 degrees east of south. According to the elevation profiles, nothing appears to block the view of either. I need a better Baja map to identify the peaks. I am not claiming they can actually be seen, but it got my interest up. By the way, do you know the location of the mountain you can see from Key's View? (Signal Mtn.?)

[halhiker]

Looking on Google Earth there is nothing I can see that would be tall enough or east enough to be seen from San Jacinto. The southern end of the Santa Rosa Mountains seems to block the view of anything in Mexico. I did find some thing called Picacho Peak that's kinda high but not tall enough to be seen from SJ

But I could be wrong. There's a first time for everything.

[AlanK]

I don't claim to have seen anything in Mexico from San Jacinto. Sadly, I usually feel lucky to see the Salton Sea through the haze.

[HikeUp]

I just perused through my 4th edition of Robinson's San Bernardino Mountain Trails - 100 Hikes in Southern California, and I found the passage that probably planted the idea of seeing Mexico in my addled brain.

In his description of "Trip 74 - Humber Park to Saddle Junction, Wellmans Cienega, San Jacinto Peak" he talks about the vistas that Muir must have seen...

"Southeast lies the shining platter of the Salton Sea and beyond, in the distant haze, is Mexico."

I read this back when I first moved to SoCal in '88 and immediately began planning for my first hike up to this peak. Turned out I probably picked the clearest day in SoCal history where the only thing that seemed to limit my visibility was the horizon (earth's curvature). That combined with Robinson's prose and the passing of almost 20 years has left me thinking I saw peaks in Mexico.

Either way, I'll always remember topping out that day and coming across one other fellow sitting on top. I took one look around and turned to him and said "wow" . His response was "yep". It was beyond words to say the least.