Mount San Jacinto

Amazing amazing views at the top. Started at Marion Mountain Trailhead. Tough hike but very rewarding! Around 12 miles round trip and over 4500 ft of elevation gain. Not for the average hiker. Must train ahead of time to do this hike and need to summit by a certain time in the day (Fall season) to avoid coming back at night. So come prepared, train for this, and start early!

Backpacked starting at Deer Springs Trailhead. Camping at little round valley. Great views/ scenery throughout the hike. Summit was amazing. As of 7-20-2025 there's still low, but good water flow about 1.25 miles prior to Little Round Valley Campground, and the Creek flowing through said campground is still a good water source.

Absolutely blown away by San Jacinto Peak! We took the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, which was already an amazing experience in itself – climbing quickly from the desert floor into the cool alpine landscape. From there, we hiked to the summit, and it was absolutely worth it! The views are just breathtaking – endless ridges, forests, and even glimpses of the ocean on a clear day. The trail was peaceful, beautiful, and filled with stunning scenery at every turn. Reaching the summit at 10,834 ft was an unforgettable moment. The quiet up there, the 360-degree views... it’s something we’ll carry with us for a long time. Highly recommend this adventure – using the tram makes it accessible, and the hike still offers a true mountain experience. One of the best we've ever done!

Love hiking here! Has become one of my favorite places to visit that I bought the annual pass!

I went on a backpacking trip there, first was the tram, which really swings at each tower, and provides absolutely amazing views of the mountains of jagged rocks and cliffs, and then at the end of the tram we went on a 2 mile hike to our camping spot, at the spot there were a ton of rocks and places to climb, and caves, we found 2 knifes and a snow glove just lying around, one of the knifes was a throwing knife! The next day we packed our day packs and set off for the peak! It is one of the best hikes I’ve EVER done! Make sure to stop at welman divide, that’s the first good view! After the divide it’s actually all good views from there, the trees spread out and you can see all the way to the tram building! Then, near the top is the stone cottage, it’s a small cottage built for emergencies, with supplies and other stuff, and they have 2 notebooks where you can write your name and date, it’s also a good lunch spot. Then after a small climb your at the top! Be careful, it’s all rocks, there’s no trail to hike on, you have to climb over a couple Rocks, at the top there’s a great view of Palm Springs and Perris, also, there’s actually a taller mountain called San Gorgonio mountain, across the valley. The view at the top is amazing! Then we went back to our campsite and messed around. The next day we cleaned up and hiked back to the tram, you know the rest. If you made it to the end of this review, thank you, I kinda went overboard with this review, It was just a great trip, I highly recommend!!!! ;)

I summitted Mt. San Jacinto on May 9, 2024 amid heavy snowpack. It is a challenging hike and very rewarding. If there is snow you'll need spikes and an ice axe. I would also recommend walking sticks to catch yourself if you slide down the ice.

Really nice place to take pictures. And hiking. Everyone is really friendly here. Great place to site see if your traveling to cali

We did the trail starting from the tram. We took the tram at 8am. Started the trail at around 8:12am. The moving time for the trail is a little bit more than 5 hours. It is more than 17km in total. The ranger said it should take about 6 hours on average. The trail is not hard and the whether was cloudy in the morning, so our way up was not hot (but the way down was hot though). Very rocky in the last 1-2 miles. Very windy and cold at the top (I hope I had a warm coat but I didn’t bring it). We saw two dears and several mushrooms. The first 1/4 of the trail was in a forest landscape which is very beautiful. I bet it would be even more beautiful in the spring when there is water. Next time I will try another trail in this mountain.