We could have booked our Palm Desert trip several weeks earlier, but we chose to do it relatively late because we wanted to hike San Jacinto Peak, and we were worried that the higher mountains would still be snowy earlier in the season. Day 3 of our stay in the desert had us rushing out the door to catch the 8am tram (we were a little late and caught the 8:15) to the trailhead. San Jacinto Peak, 10,834′, is the second highest peak in Southern California (San Gorgonio Mountain is 665′ taller), but it’s one of the most prominent summits in the country – the canyon floor at the northern base of the mountain is at elevation 2,000′ and only four miles from the summit. Trails lead to the peak from both the west and east, but the shortest and most popular route runs about 5-1/2 miles west from the Palm Springs aerial tramway station to Wellman Divide, then north along the mountain’s east slope to the summit – we have seen various round-trip distances noted, but we expected it to be somewhere between 10 and 11 miles total with about 2,400′ of gain. The tram ride up, first of all, is an experience in itself – ours was the second car of the day to go up, and it was packed. We were lucky enough to get a spot against the glass, and as the floor rotated two full revolutions during our ascent, we were treated to views all round that were simply amazing – early morning light on the sheer cliffs and the temperature dropping from the 80s to the 50s lent the feeling of entering a different world, all within the space of a few minutes. With all the hikers and their gear aboard, we figured there would be a long line for required permits at the ranger station below the top of the tram, so we headed straight out of the building and down the paved switchbacks to the ranger station, only to find that the permits are self-issued so there was no need to rush – oh well. The ranger station is in Long Valley, a crescent-shaped depression below the rim of the cliffs overlooking the desert to the north and east, and our trail initially led us out the western end of the lowland, across an intermittent stream, and up along the south side of the drainage where the path steepened considerably and became more rocky – this became the pattern of the day as we tramped up the trail, continually stair-stepping up (and down, on our return) the well-placed rocks and logs in the trail bed. After about 1-1/2 miles, the trail gradient eased significantly as we entered the Round Valley area – the terrain became much more level, and we passed several large campsites (we didn’t explore further in this area, but there is an expansive campground here, as well as one at Tamarack Valley a half mile to the north). Turning left at the signed Round Valley junction, we immediately began to gain elevation again as we headed southwest up to Wellman Divide, a ridge separating Round Valley from the regions further south. A climb of about 400′ in a mile, the trail seemed steeper than that, perhaps because of the altitude or maybe the stair-stepping effect – in any case, we were a little tired as we reached the divide. The open views south were spectacular – the whole San Jacinto range lay directly before us, and the rest of the ranges down to San Diego county were beyond, including a tall mountain on the horizon that we believe is Cuyamaca Peak, some 60 miles away. We rested here for a bit but soon headed out north from another well-signed junction atop the ridge – we had leapfrogged with several other groups of hikers on the trail to this point, and there was one woman who, talking incessantly as she walked, had seriously harshed our collective mellow and we didn’t want her to catch up with us (that sounds uncharitable – sorry). We cruised quickly through the next section as the trail lost its rockiness for about 3/4 of a mile, traversing gently up the east face of Jean Peak directly south of San Jacinto, after which it resumed its former character for some distance before flattening out through a pretty rock garden. From here, we resumed our northern march up the again-rocky trail to a point on San Jacinto’s east ridge where the trail abruptly switches back south – the views east through this last section were marvelous as well, and they got even better as we made our way south to the saddle north of the still-snowy Jean Peak. We came to a junction with a trail leading westward down to (or up from) the Idyllwild area and turned north – this junction is at about 10,500′ of elevation, and the trail gains the last 300′ over about 1/4 mile from this point. We found the stone hut that lies just southeast from the summit, and we could hear a rowdy group of hikers, who had apparently spent the night on the summit, coming down. We had trouble finding a defined path through the rocks, as the single track devolved into many nondescript use trails beyond this point – the rule of thumb is up, however, and we scrambled the last few dozen yards up the east side of the summit area to find maybe 50 others who had gotten there ahead of us. There was literally a line to take photos at the summit sign, which we dutifully stood in for about 10 minutes awaiting our turn (this is the highest elevation to which we’ve yet been together – Haleakala on Maui, at 10,023′, was our previous mark). Chris was able to scramble up the actual adjacent summit block for some pictures as Jane went and found a solitary spot about 30 yards west of the sign, and we spent about another 30 minutes there taking in the sights. John Muir once described the view from San Jacinto Peak as one of the most sublime anywhere in California, and he wasn’t overstating in the least. The entire valley west of the range was open before us, and we could easily make out the familiar shape of Saddleback Mountain (Santiago Peak) in the Santa Anas. The San Gabriels lay to the northwest, unfortunately locked in a dense haze, while San Gorgonio Mountain and the rest of the San Bernardino range lay directly north. The whole of Joshua Tree National Park was visible to the northeast, as was the entire Coachella Valley to the east – southeast were the Santa Rosa mountains, while the rest of the San Jacintos lay to the south, though partially blocked by the picturesque form of Jean Peak. Jane explored a little below our rock and found the register, which was sort of funny – of all the dozens of people on the summit at the time, we were probably the only ones who signed in to mark the occasion. We had made it to the top in just under three hours, so by this time it was after 12:00pm and we thought we should start heading back – we made our own trail down the southwestern edge of the summit area, eventually picking up the main trail southward. As we descended, we met dozens of people still heading up, including some who had started their day very early down in Palm Springs and were hiking the famous Cactus-to-Clouds route (some fifteen miles on the trail from Palm Springs to the peak, then back to the tram, with over 10,000′ of total gain). The rocky trail was a bit easier going down, although tedious in a few spots, and we appreciated the very easy walking through Round Valley. By the time we made the descent into Long Valley, we were more than ready to see the ranger station ahead – we don’t do many hikes over 10 miles, so we were pretty tired by this time. If we thought the peak trail was crowded, then Long Valley looked like the mall at Christmas – there were people everywhere, mostly in street clothes, who had come up the tram to look around. Jane sped up the concrete switchbacks to the tram station while Chris took his time (out of necessity, sad to say), and we decided to eat an early dinner in the restaurant there (Jane was disappointed in her steak, but Chris’ western cheeseburger was very good and totally hit the spot!). All told, the hike was about 10.8 miles tram-to-summit-to-tram. We had to wait in line for about 30 minutes for the tram down (don’t misplace your tickets from the ride up or they’ll make you buy another one-way trip down – we still had ours), and the tram descent was just as remarkable as coming up – the late afternoon sun and shadow gave the ride a completely different quality and was very enjoyable on its own. While the hike to San Jacinto Peak is probably not going to offer much in the way of solitude, particularly on a weekend day with beautiful weather, it offers rewards that far exceed the level of effort required to obtain them and should be on most everyone’s bucket list.