Day 16 – 7 Apr 19. Summiting San Jacinto

Today trail distance 3.1 km (1.9 mi), but actual distance walked 19 km (11.8 mi). Total Distance 291.8 km (181.3 mi). 7 hours 20 minutes (0925-1645). Elevation gain 1,327 m (4 353 ft)

Around midnight I thought I felt an earthquake and the neighbourhood dogs were all barking. Unusually for a Zero I struggled to get back to sleep and tossed and turned all night. We were all awake early.

Once again Debbie spoiled up with an oatmeal with all the extras and more really nice coffee. I had a shower, repaired the hole in my gaiters and finished responding to comments on my blog and YouTube.

We then talked again, leaving the house a little later than planned. Debbie gave us a ride to the trail head at Humber Park in Daisy, her neat campervan.

Knowing it was a big hill to start I took it easy and walked with Smalls who was going a really good pace. We talked which seemed to make the climb go faster. She stopped to take off her jacket and I continued. I really enjoyed getting to know her during the Zero. She has overcome some challenges to get where she is which I admire.

I kept a gentle pace up the hill and was surprised when I got to the top in just over an hour, not much slower than going down. There had been several day hikers going up and down and a rush of PCT Hikers going down to break up the climb.

Now back at Saddle Junction I had a little over a mile to get to the junction to San Jacinto. I had decided if it was a nice day I would do the side trip and summit it.

The climb from the saddle was a mixture of dirt track and snow. It was quite rocky but I was making steady progress. Coming around one corner was a big dog and two local guys who were doing a day trip to summit the mountain. I expected them to catch me with their youth and small daypacks but they never did.

At the junction I couldn’t resist taking photos of the sign which is now visible above the snow but the post is buried.

I took the route away from PCT to head up the mountain. There was a field of snow and it was in ok condition but I could see posthole signs from previous days.

From the snow field there was a mix of snow, dirt and vegetation to walk on, climbing steadily. It was 1.5 miles to the junction at Wellman Divide.

There were people at the divide and I thought they had come up the other side but they didn’t look like distance hikers. I found out that there was a tram/cable car that takes them from the desert floor up to near that point. I was not sure how I felt about what I thought was a tough climb in snow being so easily accessible.

From the junction the path became much more defined and the snow was a nice consistency, giving a little but not too slushy. The trail wound around the hill and then climbed onto the ridgeline.

There were more people on the trail. One was a PCT hiker on his way up the mountain. He would be dropping down the other side to join the PCT track. That is the logical route but would mean I miss part of the official PCT and I would like to do as pure a hike as I can.

I also met a group of three tentatively coming down the hill. They had turned back early because they were not comfortable in the conditions. One of the guys said I should put my crampons on immediately and I just smiled. In such soft snow the spikes would be struggling to grip and I would be just as likely to slip as if I was not doing it. Also there was occasional postholing and I prefer not to be wearing crampons when doing that. I was having good grip on the snow and not sliding around at all so I stayed with just my shoes.

There were several different sets of tracks climbing up too the ridge and I took the high route which seemed good. On the ridge it was now a grunt up to the top on very soft snow with postholing a common occurrence. I was stopping to rest a lot on this part as it was steep and I was starting to feel the climb.

There was a final really steep slope and I looked around for the junction to the hut and summit when I realised there was nothing higher in sight.

I had reached the summit much sooner than expected, and completely bypassed the hut. Two guys were up there and they pointed out where the hut was, visible below.

I took in the amazing views and basked in the feeling of satisfaction at having summited the mountain. It was 3,302 meters (10,833 ft) which was a decent height after starting the day at 1,975 meters (6,480 ft). I sat on a rock and had a light lunch, still feeling full after the breakfast.

Reluctantly I decided to start down. I went to the hut to have a look and there were heaps of people around the hut or leaving it to get to the peak. Some were from the tram and some were doing the Cactus to Clouds Challenge which was 20miles from the desert floor to the mountain summit, defiantly a good effort and I gave encouragement to all I saw as they were climbing up.

After looking around the hut I started the descent and made good time back to the Wellman Divide Junction. The snow was a lot more slushy than going up but I still had good grip, kicking my heels in on the steep bits. There were still people climbing. I met the guys with the dog and they had stopped and were turning around as they were too slow to reach the summit that day.

Now I turned off the highway and back onto the track to the PCT trail. It seemed like only the guys with the dog and myself had come up and most of our footprints had melted away. This was the worst part of the day with a lot of postholing. The snow was rapidly melting and often I could hear how hollow the snow was underneath as it slowly melted away. It was a bit slower going as I had to keep cautious about postholing.

I stopped at the big snow melt that was now a creek to fill up my water ready for camping. Now it was a final big slope of snow to cross and this had been in the shade for a while and an icy crust had formed on top but to weak to hold my weight so there was lots of potholing until two guys were heading towards me and I was able to use their footprints for the final 5 minutes back to the junction.

I touched the sign to be officially back on the PCT trail and climbed a small hill to the saddle where I found a flat spot for my tent. While I had not done many trail miles, I had covered a few miles and had a very physically demanding day so I was ready to stop for the day.

Just as I was finishing setting up my tent Duchess and the Duke arrived. They had camped the other side of Apache Peak last night. Like many they went off trail and climbed over the summit of Apache Peak rather than risk the trail on the north face. They were only going another mile before finding somewhere to camp.

It is my first night camping on snow. I made sure to inflate my mattress before getting into the tent to have insulation and put my sit pad under my gas Canister when heating water for dinner. I discovered my Piezo lighter was not working, probably because the gas mixture was affected by the cold and altitude. Thankfully my little lighter did work. Dinner was – wait for it – Potato and Tuna.

I was surprised the temperature was not colder. There was absolutely no wind and the temperature was sitting around 10 degrees C until 1900 when it started dropping. I expect to be cold tonight, camped on snow at altitude but it is a good shake out for the Sierras.

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