Friday, April 17th 2026

Morning came and I headed up tot he summit as soon as I could. I left My tent and some of my equipment where I had camped. Best to reduce the weight for the big climb ahead (2.3 miles and 1900 feet of elevation gain).

Passed a stream on the way up.

Little Round Valley would have been a great place to camp, but without a view.

A first person view of the hike to the summit of San Jacinto Peak.

On my way down, I stopped at the San Jacinto Summit Hut Shelter to take a look. Like a lot of high peaks in the west, there was a hut there to use as an emergency shelter if you’re caught at the summit in bad weather.

Once I made it back down to my tent, and was almost ready to go jump in and go to sleep. But I figured I’d need to do some mileage on the actual PCT that day.

So I packed up my tent and headed north again on the PCT.

Only made it about 2 1/2 miles further but any distance is better than none. It was disappointing to not make that much progress on the actual PCT, but the urge to climb San Jacinto was too strong to ignore.

4.7 miles roundtrip up to the summit of San Jacinto Peak and back down to the PCT

Mile 185.5 to 188 – Only 2.5 miles total hiked on PCT this day due to the very exhausting climb to the summit

PCT 2026 Day 18 Photos and Movies

Flickr collection of all PCT 2026 Photos and Movies, Organized by Trail Day: https://www.flickr.com/photos/wanderingjim/collections/72157727360883240