South Peak via Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail #2000(edit)

Sights to See

• Humber Park

Rate this Hike

★★★★★


Temecula_Dan 4 months, 2 weeks ago
Solo hiked Fri 6/14/2024 – Decided to create a loop by taking the Spitler Peak Trail up and the Zen Center - Apple Canyon Trail on the way down with stops on the Apache Peak & Antsell Rock summits. Ascended Antsell on the northeast gully route and descended via the northwest ridge. It was great weather going up Antsell Rock, providing for spectacular views off the summit. Coming back from Southwell Peak during the first week of March, I climbed the NE gully route on ice/snow up to the notch before running into a very shiny verglas coating on everything above the notch. Going up the gully this time was nice with careful routing to avoid launching any rocks down towards the PCT. The class 3 sections up to the summit were fun but short lived with some Poodle Dog bush to avoid at all cost on the second class 3 section and even more prolific on the way down the northwest ridge. Scrambling the northwest ridge on the way down was great fun but time consuming. A quicker option would be to traverse down along the west side of the ridge to reduce the scrambling work (but what fun would that be). Once heading down the Apple Canyon return trail, I followed a Peakbagger GPX route that sent me into extreme, shoulder high bushwhacking mode in two places. There were cairns/ducks marking a slightly overgrown trail going down that I should have stayed on but I kept thinking that the bagger GPX would lead to the proper creekside trail which it never did. Lots of time wasted here going through buckthorn and trying to avoid poison oak thickets before getting back on the better trail above the Zen Center. My advice to anyone going up Apple Canyon would be to pick up the trail at Zen and use the cairns with careful route finding between them. Otherwise, just use the Spitler Peak Trail that Jon King and the San Jacinto Trail Report has recently cleared of 30+ blow downs/tree limbs. Spitler might be a longer route to access the PCT but it’s a more enjoyable one with no private property to deal with. In spite of my travails coming down Apple Canyon, it was a very enjoyable hike that just took longer than planned. Logged 12.0 miles / 3318 vertical ft with Gaia .................................................................................................................................................................................................... Solo day hiked Tues 3/5/2024 – Even after a few days of rain, the Spitler Peak and PCT trails were relatively dry and in great shape up to Apache - a few blowdowns and rime ice piles but no real mud. But of course things changed quickly on PCT at mile 169.5, north east of Apache where the steeper slopes were iced over with the snowfall having sloughed across the trail before the freezing rain iced over all of it. Good day for auto crampons for the “crampon/crampoff” march out to South Peak. Same 45-55 degree ice slopes as those encountered last year, here, and at Baldy/Cucamonga where there’s a long runout and very little chance of self-arrest, even with the best axe and technique. There were 3 traverses like this to be carefully crossed 2X, slowing things down a bit. The rest of the way along PCT out to South Peak had so many blowdowns over 4.5 miles that I lost count after the first 20. Most were at the 3-1/2 foot high level with multiple branches where it’s just as hard to crawl under with a winter climb pack as it is to hop over. Some had to be widely bypassed upslope for extra fun, 2 were cleared for extra credit. After getting near mile 174, there was a 2-1/2 foot diameter tree perched above the trail so I directly ascended the east slope of South Peak from there, relaxing fun with little snow. Awesome views from South Peak of Garner Valley, Tahquitz, Red Tahquitz, Antsell Rock and the desert floor. Had some fun bouldering at the South Peak/Antsell Rock saddle on the way back before climbing the east gully route to Antsell Rock which was still frozen enough to front point all the way up to the rock base. That’s when I noticed how shiny the rocks were with a nice, clear, verglas layer of ice still being actively chilled with the wind picking up. Easy decision to bail and descend back to the PCT and back to Apache. Was glad to cross the ice fields before dark and then go up Apache Peak to see the Palm Springs light show and last of a beautiful sunset. I had read Jon King’s always meticulous San Jacinto Trail Report before the trek and knew about the ice but didn’t plan on all the blow downs. Incredibly long day with some brutal stretches but still a lot of fun. Highly recommend Jon King’s incredibly detailed daily reports, https://sanjacjon.com/, and YouTube channel before heading out in the SJ Wilderness. Logged 20.0 miles/4374 vertical ft with Gaia.
★ ★ ★ ★

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