Camping Solo Weekend – Santa Rosa/San Jacinto Mountains

Got in a solo weekend out around San Jacinto — hiking, exploring, reading, and a little writing. In other words, a really fantastic weekend.

It’s been a while since I’ve actually been out hiking. I miss it, and while I do just love the act of walking over and through the landscape, it’s just far better for me if that walking is over and through mountains. Honestly, the “mountain experience” is lacking here in Southern California, but there are little pockets that give me a bit of the feeling, Mt. San Jacinto being one of them. So, I did a portion of the South Ridge Trail, up to just under Tahquitz Peak. I actually stopped a few hundred feet from the top. I didn’t really feel the need to go all the way up, but still went quite a bit higher than I was planning. I really just wanted to walk in the trees. I also had to start quite a ways away from the trailhead, so it was a pretty decent hike overall, even without going all the way to the top.

I made it back to camp, didn’t do anything spectacular for dinner, but the sunset was spectacular.

I wasn’t able to sleep as long as I wanted, the body is just used to a 6:15 wakeup these days, which is quite unfortunate. I was hoping to do a short hike on one of the trails emanating from camp, but I had a little pain in my left foot, so I decided to just take it easy. It turned into one of those super-enjoyable mornings, drinking coffee, and going back and forth between reading and writing, routinely moving my chair to get the best mix of views and shade.

Before heading home, I explored a few side roads that have been on the list for a while, and found some new trails and roads I need to explore. There are a lot of things that go into a great outing, but perhaps one the key indicators of a great weekend is if you end up with more things on your todo list than what you had when the weekend started. This was definitely one of those weekends.