2011-08-20 thru 21 San Jacinto Mountain Backpack Trip

[FJ-Ollie]

As Gon2srf mentioned several times during the trip, this will be one of those weekends that we will remember for the rest of our lives. The weather was perfect, the views amazing, and the camp site never fails to impress. Here are some pictures from our trip. The colors up there were amazing. There were seas of green on the mountain side. We ended up summiting on Saturday instead of Sunday which made for an awesome day of exploring on Sunday.

 

[FJ-Ollie]

 

[FJ-Ollie]

On day 2 we explored the ridge line where we were camping on the north rim of the amphitheater. After doing some exploring and seeing some really cool stuff we headed back to camp to grab our already packed backpacks to head down the mountain. On the way down we saw more beautiful views and ran into something I'd heard existed in those mountains but never saw before, a rattlesnake. This particular snake was rather large and it was black. I'd never seen a black rattlesnake before. I got as good of a pic as I could from a distance and through the tall grass.

 

[FJ-Ollie]

 

[Crom]

Very nice trip! Thanks for sharing your pictures, they're quite good. I've done a day hike from the tram to the summit once before. Lovely views. That rattle snake looks like a Southern Pacific Rattlesnake.

 

[taugust]

Nice photos Ollie. Looks like a great trip.

 

[clcoyle]

great photos and trip report, thanks for sharing

 

[bat]

It is great place to take beginners from the tram drop off for the weekend, I have been up a few times once from Idyllwild day trip and 2 from the tram once in snow.
Great pics