Cactus to Clouds is rated as one of 5 toughest hikes in North America so of course we had to do it. We drove up the night before and parked about a a half block from the trailhead on the street. Then it was time to climb into the back of the Prius V for bed.
It was an early wake-up at 3 am for a 3:30 am start on the hike. The trail is rocky and dirt at the bottom and goes back in forth in switchbacks up from an Art Museum parking lot. As you can see below there are white spray painted dots on the rocks to help see the trail in the dark. As your headlamp sways with your head movement the white dots catch your eye to keep you going in the right direction.
The trail went up very quickly and after a couple off the trail moments we got rewarded with this view of the pre-dawn light and the city lights below.
After the initial steep section there was a section of the trail that leveled off and allowed us to trail run for awhile. Here is Sara moving up the trail.
As the sun continued to rise in the distance the temps got warmer and we started to shed our jackets and sleeves for warmer temps.
The trail was very primitive and overgrown in area’s. As you can see there was lots of loose gravel and dirt and just a glimpse of going in the right direction. We brought along a gpx file of the trail to check at times to make sure we were still going the right way.
As the day woke up and the sun hit the vegetation the colors in this desert landscape started to show.
So much of the climb/trail was rocky. You can see here how Sara is traversing lots of boulders and small rocks to make it across/up the trail. You can sorta see the trail – right 🙂
At this lookout point we stopped to get a picture from a couple of other hikers. On the other side of that large rock behind us was the aerial tram taking people effortlessly to the tram station.
We thought at this point that we were almost done, however we were wrong. The toughest section of the climb came in the last 4-5 miles to the Ranger station. It literally starts going straight up with loose dirt and “rubble”.
We were so glad to get to the Ranger station park where it leveled off. Here is Sara finishing the final push. We walked toward the Ranger Station knowing the roughest part, the first 10 miles, of the hike/climb was finished.
We used the bathroom and filled up our hiking pack bladders with water and nutrition. Then we signed in for the hike to the top and moved on to the next 11 mile section to the peak and back.
The day was waking up and we had more people on the trail with us now. The sky was an impossible blue and the temps were comfortable as we continued to go up in elevation. Also the trail improved dramatically as you can see Sara moving forward.
Making it to the top of Mt San Jacinto was awesome and it was still just late morning. Now it was cruising down hill for the hike/trail run back to the tram for the ride down. It ended up taking us 10 hours from start to finish. 5 hours from the Art Museum to the Ranger station and then 5 hours up and down from the peak.
Man we were happy to sit down for few minutes waiting for the tram ride down. Then it was down to the bottom and an Uber ride back to our car in Palm Springs. Definitely the hardest day hike to date.
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