Thursday May 7, 2026. Clear and 55 going up to 78.
Up at 6:00. On trail at 7:00.
Big 1700 foot climb in 2.6 miles to start the day.
That was a nasty climb. Maybe the steepest so far. Killed 1 liter just on that climb.
More good views of Palm Springs.
Once we got to the Apache Spring Junction at 8:30, we had to do a steep .6 mile climb down a side trail to get water. The climb back up was brutal. I filtered 3 liters of water. The next water is in 8 miles. We rested and had a snack. Back on trail at 10:00.
Margarita was with us for the water adventure.
The hiking today was amazing. Damn difficult but amazing. The views were spectacular as we climbed over 5000 feet today.
YouTube video of amazing views and from Day 14.
Reached a tent-site at the top of today’s large climb at 2:10 and 11 miles. I’m beat. That was 4 hours of hard climbing. I’m at 8386 feet and started this day at 5996 feet. I still have 4.6 miles to go and one more very steep 2 mile climb to reach camp.
Reached Tahquitz Creek and nice water at 2:45 and 12.25 miles. Brad, Hell Yeah, Chinchilla, were here. Rested, ate, and filled 2 liters of water to carry to camp in 3.5 more miles up the mountain.
This was my view from my napping position staring up into the trees. Nice!
The next 1.5 miles weren’t bad, but that last 1.2 miles almost killed me. I had to stop at least each .1 miles and rest a few minutes. It took me an hour to climb that last mile. Utterly beat!
Reached camp at 6:00, 11.27 miles, and 5456 feet of elevation gain. We are camping at 8974 feet elevation. This was a huge brutal day!
This was the most difficult day so far. 5500 feet of elevation gain is on hell of a day. But when you realize that all took place between 7000 feet and 8900 feet of elevation gain, well damn! I’m doing good with the elevation, but I could still use more acclimation.
Tomorrow we ascend to the summit of Mount San Jacinto at 10,679 feet. That is the beast that we have been climbing all day. Most years we would have been hiking on snow for the past 5 miles and all the way up and over the summit tomorrow. I can’t imagine how difficult this hike would be in snow and ice. I still have that experience to look forward to in the Sierras.
Technical Notes:
- Pop Tarts 340
- Skittles 125
- Jerky 200
- Slim Jim 200
- Propel x 2
- Ramen 460
- Tuna 90
- Water liters: 5
- Miles: 16.38
- Time: 11.17
- Up: 5456
- Down: 2513
- Calories consumed: 1620
- Calories burned: 4556
- iPhone battery used: 50%
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