Because who doesn't need some time with mountains and trees?
Are you looking for a great overnight backpacking trip in Southern California? Look no further than Mount San Jacinto! Last weekend some friends and I headed up into the mountains for some time in the dirt and trees, and San Jacinto turned out to be one of my favorite SoCal backpacking spots so far! It was a challenging (but not killer) trail of moderate distance, had lots of shade, a reliable water source at camp, spacious and private campsites, and the opportunity to stash gear at camp and just take daypacks to the summit. Does that sound good to you? Read on for more details!
Backpacking San Jacinto- Route Options
There are a number of ways to enjoy Mount San Jacinto. The most common way is to take the Palm Springs tramway up to the top, which cuts out a lot of leg work from getting to camp. If you take the tram up and want to camp at Round Valley Campsite, it is about 2.1 miles from tram to camp. This would be an excellent beginner backpacking route! However, my friends and I wanted a bit more of a challenge. So we decided to start at the Humber Park trailhead in Idyllwild and go up the Devil’s Slide Trail.
From the trailhead to Round Valley camp, it is about 6.5 miles and 3,200 feet of elevation gain. After we got to camp and stashed our packs, we switched to daypacks and headed for the San Jacinto summit. From camp to the summit was about 3.7 miles and a 1-2000 feet of gain. Unfortunately I just kept my watch going the whole day, so I don’t have exact data for each section of trail. But on day one, we went from Humber Park trailhead-> Round Valley Camp-> San Jacinto Summit-> Round Valley Camp and it was 15 miles and over 5300 feet of elevation gain.
Of note, if you decide to head to camp before going to the summit, it is a detour from the main path, about a mile each way. I wasn’t interested in taking my full pack all the way to the summit, so I liked this diversion even though it did add an extra 2 miles and 700 feet of elevation gain and loss to the day. But aside from just the luxury of ditching the heavy weight for a bit, there is also a water spigot at the camp, and that is key! There are not many water options along the trail, so this could be essential if you don’t want to carry a ton of water or the creek is dried up. Even this spigot water must be purified though, so make sure you bring your water filter!
Directions For The Route We Took Up San Jacinto
I thought that finding information on good routes to take on AllTrails was very confusing. There are so many options, and the exact route I wanted to take did not exist on Alltrails. So, the option we took, if you want to recreate, looks like this: Hike the Devil’s Slide Trail from Humber Park trailhead. After about 2.5 miles, you eventually come to a very obvious trail junction, called Saddle Junction. From here, you go left and continue up the mountain towards Wellmans Junction. After a few more miles, you reach Wellman Divide (at 9,700ft), another very obvious trail junction where many people stop and snack. At Wellman Divide, you can choose to continue straight to San Jacinto Peak (2.7 miles) or go on towards the right towards Round Valley (1 mile). So we went to Round Valley camp, then eventually turned around and backtracked to Wellman Divide, and then up the trail to the peak. Total time spent hiking on the first day was about 7.5 hours.
The Trail- Distance, Difficulty, Terrain, Shade, Water
Despite the trail sounding pretty rough with all of the elevation gain, it felt easier than other similar local routes, such as San Gorgonio and Icehouse Canyon trails. The trail wasn’t quite as steep, and a lot of the route was shaded. As I told some friends, the trail was challenging, but not to the point where you question why you started backpacking in the first place. This trail does get a bit of altitude- Humber Park Trailhead sits at 6,400 feet elevation, Round Valley Camp is near 9,300 feet, and San Jacinto summit is 10,834 feet. The trail meanders through lots of forest, and has some openings with great views of the surrounding mountains. The section from Saddle Junction to Wellman Divide does have a LOT of tall bushes and vegetation close to the trail, so I’d definitely consider wearing long pants and keeping your eyes peeled for snakes. I was so worried about a snake hiding in these bushes, because on Mt. Baldy I had been rattled at by a rattlesnake that was hiding in bushes just like these!
Before reaching Wellman Divide, we saw very few fellow hikers. On the section of trail from Wellman Divide to San Jacinto summit, the trail got more mild in gradient and was just plain enjoyable. In fact, I think that a lot of this route could actually be “runnable” for a seasoned trail runner on a non-crowded day. There were many more people hiking this section of trail, but the trail was not a zoo, even on a Saturday in August. And finally, the very top section near the summit is a short rock scramble over some giant boulders.
A note on water availability- there was only one creek we passed that was a viable water source in late August. I dropped a pin on my GPS which showed that it was 5.1 miles from Humber Park, so just a bit before Wellman Divide. The only other option I know about is Round Valley camp. So definitely consider your water needs before you start, and plan accordingly.
Before heading out on trail, check out the website San Jacinto Trail Report. It was super helpful for understanding current trail conditions and is updated very regularly.
San Jacinto Weather:
We got super lucky to have perfect weather for this trip, which was in late August. It was quite cool at the trailhead, probably in the low 50s, and reached the high 70s by afternoon. The air was very dry, so it did not feel hot. The peak was also chilly, in the 50s with lots of wind. I really struggled with choosing nighttime sleep gear, because I didn’t think the 50s would be very cold. Thank goodness I ended up bringing my puffy jacket! It got quite cold once the sun went down, and very windy, probably 15-20mph winds. I think it got down to 49 degrees at night. I should just always remember that nights in the mountains are cold, and not let the fact that it is summertime convince me otherwise!
The ultimate weather planning resource for hikes is the Mountain Forecast website. It gives you the predicted weather conditions at four different elevations of a mountain, and is absolutely essential for planning!
San Jacinto Backpacking Permits
You must have a Wilderness Camping Permit to backpack on Mount San Jacinto. The permit application process is ridiculously old-school. You must print out the permit application from the internet, and then MAIL in the application, a $5 check for each permit you want, and a self-addressed stamped envelope. Then wait by your mailbox for a week or so to see if you’ve been approved and receive your permit. There is no way to check availability of campsites online.
Official permit and campground information here.
Wilderness Campgrounds
There are few campgrounds to choose from on San Jacinto. The largest is Round Valley, which I’ve talked about a bit already, and this has some pit toilets and a water spigot (must purify!) available. Connected to the north of Round Valley is Tamarack Valley, and then there is also Little Round Valley and Strawberry Junction. For the route I chose, Round Valley and Tamarack Valley were the best choices. Other routes may prefer the other two options.
Round Valley Campground- How to Actually Find a Spot
One issue we ran into is that Round Valley camp is extremely confusing, and we got some bonus miles from just wandering around there. It is pretty spread out over a large area, but the map that is sent to you with your permit is very misleading. The map has a number of campsites on it that no longer exist, and the map is also VERY much not to scale, so it is easy to think you are somewhere that you are not. And many of the campsites are very hidden.
Each campsite has a wooden post with the name of the campsite carved into, and you must camp within 25 feet of this post. However, when we were walking around, we saw so many places that looked like great campsites- but no wooden post! And the map implies that there are lots of little trails that lead to campsites- these are also very hard to find. Some we never found, some led up and over boulders, and some veered off the main path quite a bit. For this reason, I would not recommend arriving at camp at dusk or in the dark. The trail posts have little reflectors on them, and are labeled like R7, and then you walk down that path to find the sites. The map also shows bathrooms as major landmarks. However, there are many old, roped-off pit toilets and some new, not-yet-in-service ones near the paths, which are not the bathrooms that the map truly refers to. They are a bunch of red herrings.
Note: The campsites are much further away from the spigot than you think you should be walking. Friends that camped here a few weeks before us ran into the same confusion. So, my suggestion to you: walk on the main upper or lower dirt path and just keep going until you see posts with reflectors (there are way more on the upper path). It was more than 0.2 miles from the spigot to our campsite, and many were even further away. And there will be in-service pit toilets eventually; the ones we saw were a pair together. BYO toilet paper though. And a heads-up: you are also supposed to find the campsite map at the ranger hut and circle the campsite you choose for the night.
Despite the confusion, Round Valley was pretty and had some very nice campsites; some would definitely hold enough tents for a small group as well. Ours (Lower Mistletoe) probably could have handled 4, 2-person tents. The wind was whipping along at 15-20mph, but our spot was pretty protected and we didn’t spend the whole night feeling like we were in a hurricane. Definitely learned my lesson on campsite selection after a sleepless night with insane winds on San Bernardino Mountain last summer!
A Great Backpacking Option Close to Home
So, there you have it! If you're short on time or don't want to drive up north, you can still pull off a quality backpacking trip in Southern California at San Jacinto. The best part is, the trip can be tailored to your preferences with the multiple routes available. Just make sure you plan ahead, because the permitting process requires some planning and patience. Happy Trails!