San Jacinto Peak via Deer Springs Trail
13.5 mi
Distance
5 hrs 55 min
Time
terrain
5,114 ft
Elev Gain
Overview
This is a difficult one way trail to San Jacinto Peak in San Bernardino National Forest.
This trail goes by Strawberry Junction and Little Round Valley.
This is an alternate route for San Jacinto Peak Loop via Deer Springs Trail and Pacific Crest Trail.
Rate this Hike
★★★★★
Solo hiked Thurs 08/10/2023 – Deer Springs / PCT trails to San Jacinto Peak, down to San Jacinto Azimuth Benchmark rock pile, Peak Trail to Miller Peak, down to Wellman Divide, out Round Valley Trail to High Trail, direct ascents of Landells/Luella Todd and Divide Peaks. Some passing dark clouds with full sun in the afternoon - very nice, cool weather for hiking. One docile Southern Pacific snake trailside in the early morning just above Strawberry JCT – surprised there weren’t more out during the day. First strong water on Deer Springs for filtering at the 6.5 mile mark (North Fork San Jacinto River). First time locating the actual SJ Azimuth survey marker high up in the rocks. First ascents of Landells and Divide peaks out of Round Valley were a lot of fun with Class2/3 summit blocks- many different ways up with great holds. Water pipe at Round Valley Ranger Station, Wellman’s Cienega, and Strawberry Cienega all flowing well. Not too many people out with the tram closed. A few Western Gray squirrels approaching the size of my youngest cat. Long day but great time to hike SJ in great weather with a still vibrant backdrop. Seems like the bird population has notably increased this year but then so has the bug population (only a problem on the last 2 miles down to the Deer Springs trailhead. Logged 26.1 miles/6688 vertical ft. with Gaia _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Hiked Friday 02/03/2023 – Got an early start to take the Deer Springs Trail out to Little Round Valley (LRV) to do some cross-country trekking up Folly, Newton-Drury and Mount Saint Ellen peaks. Just a little ice at the start of the trail and then nice shallow powder over a firm base all the way out to LRV. After 2-1/2 miles the trail was largely obscured by loose powder and required extra time to navigate. Switching to snowshoes at this point helped to increase the pace and break the trail for the trip out. About half a mile from LRV, the usual switch backed slopes were snow sluffed, so I switched to crampons and just made a direct ascent into LRV on very firm snow with hardly any ice. The snow was nice like this all day, even after the skies were clear, making it a lot easier going up all 3 peaks and the night hike out. The views off the summits were worth the price of admission, very clear with minimal wind gusts. I headed off the last peak just before dark and was able to find my snow shoe tracks marking the trail from the morning to follow back out. Was neat to hike out with the full moon reflecting off the snow and a few mule deer moving around. Saw a trail of mountain lion tracks going through my earlier snow shoe prints but didn’t get the opportunity to see him/her. Highly recommend the Deer Springs Trail right now before warmer weather changes snow conditions. It’s in pretty good shape with a few downed trees that are easy to get around but with better snow than what I’ve experienced over the last month on the Devil’s Slide side. A very long but also very enjoyable day – logged about 19 miles, 5500 vert ft and few food breaks. BTW - You can get the best updates for San Jacinto Trail conditions at sanjacjon.com
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Public Tracks
Arcadia Uncategorized
This is one way up to San Jacinto from Deer Springs.
