All trails above about 6500 ft are currently lightly, or above 8000 ft moderately, snow-covered. Precipitation turned to occasional light snow in Long Valley at about 1330, with an accumulation by 1550 of just 0.5 inch. However excellent well-traveled and compacted tracks are now in place for most of the major trails (details below). Rain has continued solidly today in Idyllwild, with another 0.90 inch since 0700 this morning. Use this relief map to navigate to mountain peaks in the area of Mount San Jacinto Peak. New treefall hazards on Devils Slide Trail, South Ridge Trail, and Spitler Peak Trail, have all been reported. Conditions will remain very unsettled well into the third week of January. 32mi . For the foreseeable future hikers should be prepared for temperatures below freezing in the high country, and well below freezing when considering wind chill effects (see below for my recent weather observations from San Jacinto Peak). Note that average depth is given; due to strong winds accompanying storms there is extensive drifting. PCT Mile 181.8 (9070 ft): 9-10 inches (total 11-12 inches), Long Valley (8600 ft): 8 inches (8-9 inches), Saddle Junction/approx. Recent hikes have included the high peaks (>10,000 ft) 2-4 times per week by various routes, Tahquitz Peak and area 1-2 times per week, South Ridge, Spitler Peak, and Marion Mountain trails, and May Valley Road and Indian Mountain Truck Trail. The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway cuts about 6,000 feet of climbing off the hike . Although excellent tracks are now in place for some major trails (as outlined below), cautious navigation is recommended everywhere for the next few days in particular. Spikes will likely become more increasingly useful over the next few days and weeks as established trails become consolidated by hiker traffic and undergo freeze-thaw cycles. Dark Canyon Road (4S02, the access to Seven Pines Trail) and Santa Rosa Truck Trail (7S02) closed to vehicle traffic for the season on 7th November 2022. In my most recent survey there were at least 82 treefall hazards between PCT Miles 170-175 including 20+ major ones, and about six more on PCT Miles 175-177. Deer Springs Trail is largely clear from the Highway 243 trailhead to the Suicide Rock trail junction at 7000 ft. From there to Strawberry Junction (8100 ft) snow cover averages 50% with patches increasing in length and frequency as you ascend. There are two new treefall hazards to pass on the upper trail. It stopped snowing at about 0800. SAN JACINTO (MSJC1) Lat: 33.81528NLon: 116.64194WElev: 8616ft. They are now invaluable on heavily traveled, compacted, icy tracks (before they clear of snow in the coming weeks) such as Devils Slide, Ernie Maxwell, and Deer Springs trails, at least, especially mornings when conditions tend to be most icy, and for descending. This is expected to be a seasonal closure until next year. Devils Slide Trail has a well traveled and compacted track to Saddle Junction in place already. Firstly because it is really unsafe, that is a busy and winding mountain road, not remotely a route designed for pedestrians. Spikes are currently recommended throughout the trail system above about 6500 ft. Starting in late morning the ice and icy snow is getting very slick due to a thin layer of meltwater on the surface, especially in sun-exposed areas. Up to one inch of rain is forecast at mid elevations, but with only a couple of inches of snow likely around the highest peaks as the high country may be above the cloud for some of the storm. Precipitation on Sunday 4th into the early hours of Monday 5th is significantly less likely in the latest models. Overnight in Idyllwild we had three inches of snow, the first notable snowfall of this latest storm series, but temperatures actually warmed during the night (presumably with the arrival of the latest atmospheric river) and before dawn it was raining on top of the snow. Your contribution keeps the Report available to all, free from advertising or paywalls, and independent from agencies. Hikers should be prepared for temperatures well below freezing in the high country, and far below freezing when considering wind chill effects (see below for my recent weather observations from San Jacinto Peak). I was pleased to see that over the weekend some posthole tracks were added on top of my snowshoe track from last week all the way up Deer Springs Trail to San Jacinto Peak. Relatively mild temperatures combined with a weakening sun at this time of year means that snow melt may be slow at upper elevations, and conditions will be ideal for freeze/thaw cycles and hence icy trails everywhere above 6000 ft. At San Jacinto Peak (10,810ft/3295m) on Monday 14th November 2022 at 0910 the air temperature was 33.3F (1C), with a windchill temperature of 20.7F (-6C), 25% relative humidity, and a cool NW wind sustained at 7 mph gusting to 12.9 mph. The Peak Trail has about 90% cover of icy snow to 9900 ft elevation, and then >95% cover to San Jacinto Peak. A few minor patches exist close to the top. Through LRV and up to San Jacinto Peak, there are at least three tracks (two posthole, one snowshoe), none of which attempt to follow the trail route, and all are steep and very direct. The section where the avalanche occurred rarely has people on it, he said, because climbing options are limited to a very technical route that is typically attempted only by experienced climbers later in the season. Ernie Maxwell Trail [checked 2nd February] has a heavily traveled track to follow along its entire length, through the increasingly patchy icy snow. My blogging throughout the storms gave more day-to-day detail and is available here. Spikes are not essential but will be useful for most hikers, especially for descending. An excellent track is easy to follow to Little Round Valley. Spikes will likely become more increasingly useful over the next few days as established trails become consolidated by hiker traffic and undergo freeze-thaw cycles. Most of the PCT through the San Jacinto mountains has little more than 1-4 inches of snow to deal with. The Wellman Trail from Annies Junction to Wellman Divide has about 40% icy snow cover. More rain and snow is expected in the San Diego area Monday and forecast to arrive . However, snowshoes may become increasingly useful if conditions warm sufficiently for snow to become soft above about 9000 ft, especially on sunny slopes and afternoons. Mt. 68mi . There is a well-traveled track to follow through the very light and patchy 1-3 inches of icy snow. By using snowshoes, crampons, or even just microspikes, we were able to hike Mount San Jacinto's summit every month of the year. The PCT throughout the San Jacinto mountains (roughly Miles 207-151) has a clear track to follow, including Fuller Ridge Trail, which has been traversed by a handful of sobo PCT hikers. With significant further snowfalls expected in the next week (at least), and moderate to strong winds in the high country expected for many of those days causing some daily drifting of snow, much of the trail system may remain completely or somewhat obscured by snow throughout most or all of January. The freeze level will again start very high, but is forecast to fall lower, with the possibility of a light dusting of snow down to about 5500 ft. Another inch of rain is forecast for mid elevations, but a heavier snowfall is expected in the high country, with predictions ranging from 8-20 inches above 10,000 ft. Further precipitation is tentatively forecast for 3rd-6th January, but amounts, timing, and freeze levels remain uncertain this far ahead. However the remaining snow patches are icy in the morning. They are not however required, depending upon your comfort level hiking on shallow variable snow, potentially mixed with slushy and icy patches. Box 518 Idyllwild, CA 92549 1-909-382-2921 Mount San Jacinto State Park 25905 Highway 243 Idyllwild, CA 92549 All trails above about 6500 ft remain lightly (or above 9000 ft, moderately) snow-covered. From there to the top of Marion Mountain Trail the route is a lightly-traveled posthole track. They are not currently recommended for moderate angle slopes above 9000 ft that have challenging ice underlying shallow powder. Following an unusually warm weekend, multiple atmospheric river storms will bring cold, cloudy weather with variable precipitation from Tuesday 27th December well into the first week of January. The system was generally very mild, with the freeze level near 8000 ft, but this is expected to drop overnight, by which time the precipitation will have largely passed. Slushy in places in the afternoon. It has stopped snowing both in Idyllwild (current storm total 0.75 inch snow plus 1.14 inches of rain) and at San Jacinto Peak (9 inches snow). Above Little Round Valley there are multiple tracks through the snow ascending toward San Jacinto Peak, none of which entirely accurately follow the established trail. Details of snow depths measured at various locations on the trail system are given at the foot of this posting. San Jacinto Peak (10810 ft): 12-14 inches (storm total 10 inches), Little Round Valley (9800 ft): 10-12 inches (storm total 7 inches), Wellman Divide (9700 ft): 7 inches (storm total 6 inches), Round Valley (9100 ft): 6 inches (storm total 5 inches) [thanks to Kyle Eubanks for this measurement], Annies Junction/approx. Trails above about 7500 ft currently remain lightly covered with patchy icy snow (more continuous above about 9000 ft). SNOW DEPTHS measured on 2nd-5th December 2022 are as follows, with depths after the only significant storm of this winter to date (on 9th November) for comparison in parentheses where known. UPDATE Saturday 17th December 2022: Early this morning we hiked South Ridge Trail to Tahquitz Peak, and I broke trail from Tahquitz Peak to and from Chinquapin Flat through moderate snow. A key feature of this sequence of storms will be the relative warmth of the air masses which will lead to high freeze levels. 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