Devils Slide Trail > Saddle Junction > ?

[Perry]

You mean Round Valley, right? That's on the east side. Little Round Valley is on the west side and takes longer to reach from Saddle Junction. I don't think the PCT junction has a LRV sign, but if it does you could be doing a longer hike than expected...

[Popper98]

Hi Perry - My thought was of heading to Little Round Valley for the night, then an early morning short 1.3 mile trek to San Jacinto Peak. Opposed to the 4 mile hike to the peak from Round Valley.

Total hike mileage is about 18 for either route.

Since the distance is about the same, is this an acceptable approach?

Thanks,

Mike

[Perry]

I don't have the mileages off-hand, but I do know that you would be going halfway around the mountain. The PCT/Angel's Glide junction is 9,000-something feet, and the PCT drops down to Strawberry Junction at 8,000 feet before you start climbing again. That's adding over 1,000 feet of climbing to the ascent, but you could descend via Wellman's and do a nice loop. The view of Tahquitz and Suicide Rock is incredible from that section of trail. Lots of solitude too because most of the Devil's Slide and Deer Springs hikers are going directly to the peak.

[Hikin_Jim]

Hi Perry - My thought was of heading to Little Round Valley for the night, then an early morning short 1.3 mile trek to San Jacinto Peak. Opposed to the 4 mile hike to the peak from Round Valley.

Total hike mileage is about 18 for either route.

Since the distance is about the same, is this an acceptable approach?

Thanks,

Mike

Hi, Mike,

Based on http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/636/files ... oSPmap.pdf I come up with about 20 miles for the trip from Humber Park to LRV to the peak and returning via Wellman Divide. For the trip from Humber Park to RV to the Peak and returning via Wellman Divide, I come up with 18 miles. So, you're right that the total mileages are about the same. I think you may want to factor in not only total miles but also miles per day, elevation gain, steepness, and sleeping elevation.

MILES PER DAY
For your first day, Humber Park to LRV would be about 10.5 miles, where as RV would be 6.3 miles. Neither of those are too bad for a backpack, but RV would be easier. On the second day, from LRV the mileage would be about 9.3 vs. 11.7 from RV, both doable.

ELEVATON GAIN and STEEPNESS
You will lose ~1,000' of elevation en route to Strawberry Jct vs. losing ~600' en route to RV -- only 400' difference, right? Well, yes but look at how that elevation is distributed. From Strawberry Jct to the Marion Mtn/Deer Springs Trail Jct is relatively flat, but as you turn toward and climb up to LRV, you gain about 1200' in 1.5 miles. This is pretty steep whereas if you look at the trail from the the east, it is far more gradual.

SLEEPING ELEVATION
There's an old mountaineer's adage: "climb high; sleep low." Sleeping at higher elevations can mean poorer sleep. LRV is at about 10,000' whereas RV is at about 9000'. A difference of 1,000' in elevation can make a difference in sleep quality.

OK, so this is a long reply. What's the bottom line? Well, it's up to you. I've stayed at LRV before and really enjoyed it, and there will be far more solitude, but it's definitely the harder hike. RV will be easier, but there will be more crowds, and you'll miss out on seeing the west side of the mountain. As I say, it's up to you, but I just thought you might want to factor in some of the other issues that affect a hike's difficulty.

HJ

[Reego]

I recommend making a loop out of your trip so that your son sees many different types of ecosystems since the west side of the mountain (strawberry junction side) is different from the east side of the mountain. Also your son will be able to have views out to the west and to the deserts in the east. I recommend going up Devil's slide trail and heading over by strawberry junction and up to little round valley and camping there. The next day peak san jacinto early and come down the east side of the mountain by wellman's divide and come back to saddle junction and down devil's. Just beware that coming down the mountain on the east side can be a bit hard to find the route for newbies, especially if you're coming down on a monday when there won't be too many other hikers to talk to if you get lost. But you should be fine, the first time I peaked san jacinto i went up devils slide but up the east side by wellmans divide and i was on a friday by myself and i was able to figure it out, but I did have some route finding issues when I got closer to the top, but I was able to figure it out. You will know you're close to the top when you come across A LOT of rocks, which means you only have about 0.3 miles left to the top (there is a sign there too), the trail disappears into these rocks, you have to go up those rocks to get to the top

[Popper98]

I am overwhelmed with the information and insite that you guys have provided. Thank you. Being a novice in San Jacinto these helps greatly.

I'll be sitting down with my son tonight to go over our supplies and do a little pre-hike planning. I've printed out the MtSanJacintoSPmap.pdf on a very large sheet of paper; we can see the elevation changes and note the approx. distance. I'll break out the GPS as well and put in some of these routes.

If he's gung-ho we'll go for the loop, if not we'll shorten the hike and plan for it the next trip.

Jim - Thanks for the details, I can appreciate them being an engineer. The devil is always in the details.
Reego - Thanks for the recommendation. This will be the route we take should my son be comfortable with the distance and elevation changes.
Perry - Thanks for the information. I am really looking forward to the views from the trail. Pictures just do not work for views like that.

Mike

[Popper98]

o.k., so we didn't make it to the top of San Jacinto or camp at Little Round Valley. It seems the State Park Rangers were MIA. We waited for 30 mins or so at the Ranger station with no luck. Next time I'll mail in our application.

So we decided to try for Laws Camp. It turns out this was a good decision. I was a little more ambitious than I should have been in my planning. Our trip up to Saddle Junction via Devils Slide tired my son out much more than I would have guessed.

After a short break at Saddle Junction we headed out.

At the Laws Junction, Reeds Meadow, Saddle Junction Signpost ... who do you think we ran into? Hikin_Jim. Which was a good thing. We were heading the wrong way. Jim pointed us in the right direction and away we went.

Thanks Jim!

All in all we had a great time at Laws Camp. Saw some beautiful scenery, and more importantly spent some great father son time together.

We will be back.

Mike

[lipbiter]

Nice post, Pop.

Our trip up to Saddle Juntion via Devils Slide tired my son out much more than I would have guessed.

I hike a lot and I find that hiking uphill. at altitude, with a heavy pack is a lot harder than if you take away just one of those elements. Especially for us flatlanders.

I suggest you try geocaching on your next trip. Looking for something helps me take my mind off the grueling aspect of a hike.

Your son is fortunate to have a dad who wants to introduce him to the wilderness.

L.B.

[Hikin_Jim]

Jim - Thanks for the details, I can appreciate them being an engineer. The devil is always in the details.

From one engineer to another: you're quite welcome.

At the Laws Junction, Reeds Meadow, Saddle Junction Signpost ... who do you think we ran into? Hikin_Jim. Which was a good thing. We were heading the wrong way. Jim pointed us in the right direction and away we went.

Thanks Jim!

You're quite welcome. It's not every day that I get to play "guardian angel." I'm glad I happened along at that moment and that I recognized you. Always great to meet a fellow poster in real life, particularly out on the trail.

All in all we had a great time at Laws Camp. Saw some beautiful scenery, and more importantly spent some great father son time together.

The times my dad spent with me in the wild are some of my most treasured memories. My enjoyment of the outdoors today is a lasting legacy from my father. My first trip up San Jacinto was in the 70's with my dad leading my Cub Scout Den. I still remember the deep green woods and "skiing" (with our shoes) the spring snow near the summit.

We will be back.

Sounds like a great weekend. See ya on the trail...