San Jacinto Wilderness Adventures

So for my next adventure I headed up to the town of Idyllwild in the San Jacinto mountains to spend a few days exploring in the San Jacinto wilderness. I started this trip from the Humber park trailhead and hiked up the Devils Slide trail to Saddle junction. A 5 way trail junction. From the junction I hiked down the Caramba trail passed Reeds meadow to Laws camp where I took a quick lunch break before heading the last few miles down to the Caramba overlook. Caramba is a really remote area in the San Jacinto mountains and it sees very few visitors. And with the great views and the nearby waterfall I knew right away that this was my kind of place! So I got my camp setup and filled some water from Tahquitz creek and then headed down to "Impassable falls". The name of the falls is misleading as they are easily passable, but it is quite a beautiful waterfall with nice granite cliffs surrounding it and a nice deep pool at the bottom which provided for some fun swimming and cliff jumping! After having fun at the falls I headed back up to camp and made some dinner and headed into my tent for the night.

Views from the Devils Slide trail Suicide rock on the left and Marion mountain in the right

Views from the Devils Slide trail Tahquitz rock on the left and Suicide rock on the right

Tahquitz peak from the Devils Slide trail

Saddle junction

Reeds meadow

Laws camp

Wildflowers by Willow creek

Wildflowers on the Caramba trail

Camping at the Caramba overlook

Tahquitz creek

The top of Impassable falls

Impassable falls

The next day was the big adventure day so I got going early. My plan was to leave my camp setup at Caramba and do a big loop all around Tahquitz valley and up to Tahquitz and Red Tahquitz peaks. So I headed back up the Caramba trail to Laws camp and then took the Willow creek trail from there to Skunk Cabbage meadows. From there I went through Tahquitz meadow and Little Tahquitz meadow and then up to the trail junction with the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) near Tahquitz springs. I followed the PCT up to Chinquapin flats and then took the Tahquitz peak trail up to the fire lookout on the summit. The Tahquitz peak fire lookout is the only fire lookout tower within a designated wilderness area and all the volunteers that work there have to make the hike up there. After hanging out on the summit for a bit I headed back down to Chinquapin flats and then followed the PCT towards my next summit, Red Tahquitz. I filled my water at Tahquitz springs and then made the final climb up to the summit. I don't know what it is about Red Tahquitz but it is one of my favorite peaks. Definitley my favorite peak in the San Jacinto wilderness. The views are really awesome, and compared to the dozens of people that climb to the Fire lookout on Tahquitz peak every week hardly anyone ever visits the summit of it's brother Red Tahquitz. After a nice long break on the summit I headed down the northeast ridge. I crossed the PCT and continued cross country down the ridge through some really neat areas with cool rock formations. I followed the ridge all the way down to my last summit of the day Sam Fink peak. I made the short climb up to the peak and then headed down its northern slopes back to my camp at Caramba. After all that I still got back to camp with enough time to explore down Tahquitz creek a bit and do some more swimming and cliff jumping at Impassable falls before calling it a day. It was definitely a full day of adventures!

Morning clouds in the trees on the Willow creek trail

Skunk Cabbage meadows

A deer on the trail

Tahquitz meadow

Little Tahquitz meadow

On the PCT

Views from the Tahquitz peak trail

The fire lookout tower on Tahquitz peak

Overlooking Garner valley from Red Tahquitz peak

Overlooking Palm Springs from Red Tahquitz peak

Overlooking the Desert Divide from Red Tahquitz peak

Rock formations on Red Tahquitz's northeast ridge

Overlooking Tahquitz valley from the northeast ridge

Overlooking Andreas canyon from the northeast ridge

Looking back at Red Tahquitz

Sam Fink peak

Views of Antsell Rock from Sam Fink peak

Exploring Tahquitz creek

Back at Impassable falls

Impassable falls

The next day I packed up my camp and headed back up the Caramba trail, back up and over Saddle junction and back down the Devils Slide trail to Humber park in Idyllwild. Ending another great adventure where I got to have so much fun exploring some of my favorite mountain areas in Southern California. I can't wait to visit Caramba again!

Caramba overlook