Idyllwild & the Tahquitz Peak hike

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Geo: 33.74, -116.718

Thursday morning was mostly a travel
day as we drove a little over 300 miles from Phoenix
to Idyllwild, California and the Santa Rosa and San
Jacinto Mountains National Monument. The
Monument is part of the San Bernardino National
Forest . Idyllwild is very much the touristy, quaint
mountain village with lots of shopping and other
attractions. No chain motels but quite a few mountain
cabins and or inn type lodging was available.

The hiking trails that start in or near Idyllwild
climb from an elevation of around 6,000 feet into the
San Jacinto Wilderness mountains that reach
elevations of over 10,800 feet. We arrived in the early
afternoon and checked in to our motel, the Idyllwild
Bunkhouse, a small well kept motel on the outskirts
of the village. To stretch our legs, we hiked around
the area behind the motel and into a county nature
park for about a total of 3 miles. On Friday, we drove
to the ranger station in Idyllwild and found that the
trails we had originally planned to hike to Tahquitz
Peak, the Devil's SlideTrail, and the Pacific Crest
Trail were impassible due to snow and ice. The ranger
suggested an alternate, the South Ridge Trail, a slightly
shorter trail at just under 4 miles but with the same 2800
ft elevation gain. I was a little hesitant about the route
change since I had read that the South Ridge trail was
not as enjoyable as the Devil's Slide Trail. However,
prudence won out and, following the ranger's suggestion,
we drove to the trail head which involved traversing an
extremely steep, rough, dirt and gravel road for the last
half mile or so. We were glad to have rented a high
clearance SUV since there were lots of eroded sections
and deep pot holes en-route. The trail head elevation
was about 6,000 feet and though Tahquitz Peak is
8,816 feet above sea level, the ascent, while a steady
climb, was rarely extreme. Along the way the trail
afforded many excellent views of the southern mountains
and valleys below. Once on the summit, we found a large
wooden fire lookout station that is periodically manned
in the summer by either rangers and/or volunteers. It
was unmanned when we were there, but we were able
to climb to the outside deck that surrounded the main
structure and take in the views of a large portion of
Riverside and San Diego counties. In the far distance,
we could just make out the outlines of the Laguna
mountains, where we would travel on Saturday, some
70 miles to the south. After eating our lunch there on
some comfortable rocks on the summit, we retraced
our steps and returned to our motel.

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Photos

San Jacinto Wilderness Entrance
At the start of the South Ridge Trail

Along the South Ridge Trail
Interesting rock feature - another Ogre?

Along the South Ridge Trail
Artsy !!

Tahquitz Peak Spur Trail Junction
This was the junction with the spur trail to Tahquitz Peak, which is to the right. The snow that is straight ahead is the trail that we had originally planned to take. The South Ridge trail comes up the mountain from behind the camera.

The Fire Lookout
On the summit of Tahquitz Peak.

From the summit of Tahquitz Peak.
An adjacent peak not too far from Tahquitz Peak, possibly Mount San Jacinto at over 10,000 feet.