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tekewin Posts: 371
2/14/2023
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I recently discovered Haystack Mountain in the Santa Rosa foothills. The starting point was the Art Smith Trailhead in Palm Desert. The trail was well groomed and started up in earnest through rock piles and varieties of cactus. Barrel cactus in particular seemed to love this area and got larger as I went up. I passed a couple of splinter trails that descended to residential areas. About 2.5 miles in, I reached a palm oasis which seems to be a popular destination.
A little more than 3 miles in, I left the trail and headed toward Haystack. There were multiple ridge line options, but the second ridge seemed the most uniform. Once I gained the ridge, there were 4 peaklets to overcome. Each had a steep section, then the slope leveled off until the next one. The final peaklet was class 3 but had a bypass on the right. The final mile gained 1300'. When I got off the ridge, it was an easy quarter mile walk up. The summit had a large cairn and a register that went back to 2010. I was surprised how often it had been visited, maybe 10 people a year. A reference mark and benchmark were not placed by the USGS, but by the US Army War Department in 1951. I found the views on top superlative. San Jacinto and Gorgonio maintained their winter snow coats, but were looking less covered than last month.
San J and San G.
LaQuinta ridge with several fun peaks
Martinez (left) and Toro (right), and I think one of the bumps in the middle is 6582.
Descent
No wild life this trip. 10 miles, 3400'. I think you can hike to it from the other side on Dunn Road, longer but less gain.
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Rocko1 Posts: 601
2/14/2023
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Very cool views up there. That's a bit too far of a drive for me. My back can hardly take driving to Borrego Springs these days lol.
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Brian Posts: 231
2/14/2023
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Man, there's so much to explore in the Santa Rosas. I've only done a little bit on the east and north sides (basically both ends of the Cactus Spring Trail). I have a nice map of the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument that I got at the visitor center at the bottom of the Pines to Palms HWY. Every time I look at that map, I just see lots of places I want to explore.
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surfponto Administrator Posts: 1366
2/20/2023
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Looks like a great area to explore. Thanks for sharing tekewin
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https://www.anzaborrego.net/
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rockhopper Posts: 668
2/20/2023
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Very nice hike. Brian is right. There is a lot to explore in the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto wilderness. The PCT thru the San Jacinto's is a favorite.
Looks like you scored a perfect day for your hike!
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Rocko1 Posts: 601
2/21/2023
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rockhopper wrote:
Very nice hike. Brian is right. There is a lot to explore in the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto wilderness. The PCT thru the San Jacinto's is a favorite.
Looks like you scored a perfect day for your hike!
I would love to do the PCT section from San Jacinto south to Warner Springs. I could do without the climb from the 10 frwy up to San Jacinto though.
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tekewin Posts: 371
2/27/2023
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rockhopper wrote:
Very nice hike. Brian is right. There is a lot to explore in the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto wilderness. The PCT thru the San Jacinto's is a favorite.
Looks like you scored a perfect day for your hike!
Got lucky considering the weather we've had this year.
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tekewin Posts: 371
2/27/2023
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Rocko1 wrote:
Very cool views up there. That's a bit too far of a drive for me. My back can hardly take driving to Borrego Springs these days lol.
I've resigned myself to long drives. I like doing new mountains if possible, but the radius for new stuff keeps getting wider. The first time I drove to Indianhead (2 hrs 15 min one way), I thought I won't do many drives that long again. Bzzzt! My tolerance is higher now, record day hike drive so far is about 4 hours one way to the SLO area. At some point, overnight becomes mandatory, just for safety driving home.
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tekewin Posts: 371
2/27/2023
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Brian wrote:
Man, there's so much to explore in the Santa Rosas. I've only done a little bit on the east and north sides (basically both ends of the Cactus Spring Trail). I have a nice map of the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument that I got at the visitor center at the bottom of the Pines to Palms HWY. Every time I look at that map, I just see lots of places I want to explore.
Yeah, especially the east side of Santa Rosa for me. I've only been to a few of the major peaks there.
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