Camping and Shooting the Stars on Mount San Jacinto

After parking at the Humber Parking lot in Idyllwild, we began the ascent with the Devils Slide Trail. The starting elevation was about 7400 ft. After following this forest trail for 2.5 miles with an elevation gain of about 1600 ft. we reached Saddle Junction. Here, five trails meet and the terrain is relatively level. This is a good place to rest or eat a picnic. Although the views are not apparent at this location, the forest is quite serene. From here, the Pacific Crest Trail was followed north for about 1.8 miles with an elevation gain of about 1200 ft. Then, we turned onto the Wellman Cenega Trail.

This was followed for 1 mile with a gain of 600 ft. until Wellman's Divide. At Welman's Divide, the Peak trail was followed for 2.4 more miles with a gain of 1000 ft. We stayed out around this area, taking pictures of the stars and views until late at night. We set up our tent at the nearby Little Round Valley Campground, which is 1.3 miles past the junction to turn towards the San Jacinto Peak. We got up around 4 a.m. to make it to the Summit of San Jacinto for the sunrise. So we hiked the 1.3 miles back to the junction and then the last .3 miles to the peak. The gain for the last .3 miles was about 200 ft. After the sunrise we hiked backed down the way we had come. Overall, we hiked for about 7 hours the first day, and 8 hours the second day.