We’ve done quite a bit of hiking in the San Jacinto Mountains, so finding something new is not so easy. Sam Fink Peak was one we hadn’t visited and the area was closed for a number of years due to some devastating fires.
Jack and I met along the I-15 and car pooled up to Idyllwild. We stopped at the Ranger station to see what the permit situation is and learned from the bulletin board that permits are not needed. On we went to Humber park. We were surprised by the number of cars in the parking lot on a weekday.
We quickly made it up to Saddle Junction where to took a little snack break before continuing on Willow Creek trail. We knew that the trails in the Carambera and Skunk Meadows area had been destroyed by the fires and expected cross country travel. So we left Willow Creek trail where a nice little trail turned left in the direction we needed. This, it turned out later, was a mistake! Had we stayed on Willow for just a few hundred yards more we would have had a much better day with less buckthorn and steep slopes.
As it was we ended up with some nasty bushwacking. We did consult our GPS’ a number of times to see if we were going in the right direction and always appeared fairly close to where we wanted to be. In the steep and brushy terrain fairly close can make a big difference. We eventually made it to remains of the Caramba trail. It took some careful attention to follow it, fortunately someone had done a good job putting cairns up. So we made good Tahquitz Creek. From there it was a straight forward scramble to the peak.
Views of the desert divide, Joshua Tree NP, and San Jacinto Peak to the north were great. Particularly seeing Antsell just across the canyon was cool as we had just been there recently. After a snack break we headed back. This time following Caramba Trail carefully and then cutting over back to Willow Creek in an area where the fire had left a lot of big trees standing. With the big trees around the buckthorn never got a chance and it was easy walking. Had we found this route on the way in, we would have saved a couple of hours of hiking time.
Stats: 14.3 miles, 3880 ft elevation gain. 9.5 h away from truck.
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It was cool to hike a mountain named after someone of recent times, and find his picture in the register atop the mountain.