{"id":1545,"date":"2019-02-05T15:50:43","date_gmt":"2019-02-05T15:50:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whitethaiger.net\/hikers\/?p=1545"},"modified":"2019-02-05T22:45:37","modified_gmt":"2019-02-05T22:45:37","slug":"snowshoeing-san-jacinto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.whitethaiger.net\/hikers\/2019\/02\/05\/snowshoeing-san-jacinto\/","title":{"rendered":"Snowshoeing San Jacinto"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few days of heavy precipitation were forecast in our area, that meant lots of fresh snow in the higher mountains around here. Kevin suggested we head out to higher elevations for some snow fun the day after the biggest storm moved through. We settled on San Jacinto because of the big 3 (Baldy, Jacinto, Gorgonio) it is probably the easiest and most likely to find a route that would avoid avalanche potential.<\/p>\n

We kept monitoring the forecasts and determined that there would be a window of opportunity between storms with reasonable conditions. Rain\/snow and clouds were forecast with snow levels around 6000ft. We headed for Marion Mountain Trail north of Idyllwild. The trailhead is at around 6400 ft and we should be able to drive there. When we arrived there were a few inches of snow on the ground and some ice on the access road, but it was already melting. There was one truck in the parking area, but it had obviously been there overnight. We started hiking at 8:12. We were carrying bigger, heavier packs with snow shoes, crampons, ice axe, sleeping bag, extra warm and dry layers of clothing, tarps, stove, etc. We wanted to be as prepared as possible since on winter hikes things can turn bad much quicker than on our usual hikes here in SoCal.<\/p>\n

As we were gaining elevation the snow got deeper and deeper. It was cloudy and the humidity was at 100% with some fog. We were sweating.There were no foot prints and soon we had to use our knowledge of the trail to find the correct route. Anyone familiar with this trail knows that route finding can be an issue in spots even during perfect conditions. Since our goal was to get as high as possible we didn’t want to waste too much time taking dead ends and resorted to checking our position with the GPS a few times. We were happy to see that our guesses were quite good. After about 2.5h we arrived at the junction with Deer Springs Trail. By this time we had been post-holing a few times and we decided it was time for snow shoes. As we were putting them on 3 hikers came down the mountain. They had hiked up the previous day and spent a cold\/wet night at Deer Springs camp, but not gone up to the peak. These were the people whose truck we had seen. So now we had a nice snow shoe trail for the short section to Deer Springs camp. After that we were in route finding mode again. By this time we were under blue sky, we had arrived above the clouds. When we finally got to Little Round Valley we were feeling the effect of the extra effort it takes to hike with snow shoes. At this time the snow was getting wet also and started sticking to our shoes. We could feel our legs getting tired and energy levels dropped. We refueled a bit and got ready for the final ~1600ft of climbing.<\/p>\n

Trail signs show snow depth<\/strong> (click on image to start slide show\/enlarge)<\/p>\n

\"Marion <\/a>
Marion Trail Sign <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Marion, <\/a>
Marion, Seven Pine, Deer Springs Intersection sign <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Fuller <\/a>
Fuller Ridge Turnoff Sign <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Little <\/a>
Little Round Valley West End Sign <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Little <\/a>
Little Round Valley East End Sign <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

We decided to head up fairly straight towards the peak. It was steep and some sections were at the limit of what I my snow shows can handle. They are not really meant for mountain ascending.\u00a0 Fortunately there was enough of soft snow below a thin crust that I could dig steps with the front of my feet sticking through the snow show. Another concern on this sections were avalanches. We had read the relevant reports and they predicted activity for the SoCal mountains mostly on the north and north-west facing slopes. We tried to avoid anything open staying in the more “forested” area. Soon we heard the first telltale “whumpf”, a sign the snow pack is unstable and collapses are happening. We heard it 2 more times. It was hard to tell where exactly it came from and how close it was. We were very vigilant for any other signs. Finally we arrived on the ridge that leads to the peak and is just above the normal trail. We followed it avoiding some rocky sections and then found some snowshoe tracks which we joined all the way to the top where we arrived at 14:48. The view was breath taking except for the very top boulder all the rocks were covered in snow. It was very windy and we retreated behind some trees to put on some more layers before returning to the top for some picture. Even then we did not last very long in the brutal wind chill. At 15:09 we left the peak.<\/p>\n

Movie giving and idea of the wind on top.<\/strong>