San Jacinto...

You can find a bunch of info on the cactus to clouds route on this message board: http://www.mtsanjacinto.info/ Good Luck!

If you have a very small tent, there is a place pretty much on the summit to camp. Looks like it has been done before, but I know its illegal, how they would find out? I dont know, just get out of there early.

My Buddie Mike at the shop has donbe it I belive, Give him a call at the shop (909) 792-2224 Ask for mike in service, tell him Dustin told you to call and ask advice on the mountain. He is a really cool guy, thye open at ten tommorrow

i've done c2c (cactus to clouds/skyline trail) a handful of times, but only to the ranger station--or from there to the summit. pm if you have specific questions. it's a great hike, but everyone in the group really needs to be fit or you'll go too slow to get done in time to make the last tram. also, there's a little bit of route-finding needed about 2/3's of the way up, so it would really help to go with someone who's done it. people get rescued up there all the time. and watch the weather. any snow/ice makes it really dangerous on the section below the tram.

and +1 on the message board. those guys are the experts.

doug

I've attempted it twice, both on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

On my first attempt we started hiking the PCT from the desert floor near the 10. I guess that's the northwest side of San Jacinto. We started hiking about 4am and we ran into snow when the trail intersected a fire road. We were probably 2/3 of the way up the mtn. The snow slowed us down and we had a difficult time trying to follow the trail.

It began to get dark and 2 guys I was with had stashed their bivy gear in the hut on the summit while I was carrying my bivy gear. We ended up starting a campfire from what dry wood we could pull off of trees to try and keep warm. Eventually we all tried to stay warm under one sleeping bag and thermarest. It was pretty gay and our feet still got so cold that I lost feeling in several toes for about a month.

The next morning when it was light we found out we were only about 300 vertical feet from the summit.

On my next attempt we started again at 4am. I cramped up bad at that first fireroad I mentioned and I hitchhiked back to my car. My buddy summited, hiked down to the tram, took the tram down and hiked down to Palm Springs.

Be prepared for a brutal hike with incredible views. It would be an amazing shuttle if it were legal...

there's little--if any--snow up there right now, and no storms forecast for the next 10 days at least. check the san j. message board for conditions.

the vivian creek trail on san gorgonio is a good training hike, as is the hike from baldy village to mt. baldy.

A thread from a while ago: http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=236784

Plan is to give it another go this spring. The terrain and grade near the top looks insane...unfortunately I will not be able to make the 09 attempt.

D

the pct route is a completely different beast. it's best done in the winter and you need to be proficient at using an ice ax/crampons.

if you go up c2c in the spring, the trail's usually not clear until early may.

i'm the one that wrote the above post about biking c2c. i think i might be the only one to do the whole thing as a 9 hour hike-a-bike up, then 4 hour descent. its a wild one. its the greatest descent around, maybe in all of cali.

ps. oh yea, i've also biked down the PCt from san jac to 10 freeway, another 8000 foot drop! (shh, you didn't hear it from me

cheetaprowlerDH said:

you down to hit c2c again? i'd do it anytime! :biggrin:
i mean come on, its only a hour long constant descent...

Click to expand...

its alot longer than that, try like 3 hours (its very technical, tight switchbacks, etc). you need to train for this ride, you are pushing up a bike 8000, even hiking it alone is alot harder than climbing whitney and now try adding on pushing a bike the whole way. i'm a strong rider and i start in the dark and finish right when its getting dark. its tough to carry enough water also.