Exploring the Marion Mountain Trail to San Jacinto Peak

Dan Jey is a respected California entrepreneur who holds responsibilities with Keller Williams Realty as associate broker. With a passion for exploring nature, one of Dan Jey’s favorite activities is hiking in Riverside County. One of the region’s most scenic trails is the San Jacinto Peak via Marion Mountain Trail.

With the 13.2-mile round trip in the San Jacinto State Park Wilderness involving an elevation gain of 4,500 feet, the goal is a summit that at 10,834 feet is the second highest peak in Southern California.

The trail starts off with a switchback directly up from the Marion Mountain Campground Road. It features westward views through Jeffrey pine clad slopes toward Indian Mountain and, in the distance, the Los Angeles Basin. As the path crosses Marion Mountain Campground, it enters a landscape that, in summer, offers abundant butterflies and wildflowers, including Indian paintbrush and lupines. The Marion Mountain Trail ends at three miles from trailhead when it runs up against the Pacific Crest Trail.

This trail then runs up past the tree line via switchbacks to a brush covered mountainside, before returning to pine forest and a year-round creek that can be used to filter drinking water. The trail then courses through Little Round Valley to a point where pines become sparse and gnarled, and the boulders larger. Less than a mile below the summit is a one room stone shelter that was erected by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933 and is still open to the public.

The boulder strewn summit itself features vistas that wilderness pioneer John Muir described as “The most sublime spectacle to be found anywhere on this earth.”