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** Use at Your Own Risk **
See the Retired Peak Guides in the Archives for Microsoft Word and other versions of this peak guide.
Location: Riverside County, about 11 miles southeast of Idyllwild, 120 miles from Los Angeles
Maps
Auto Club | Riverside County |
Forest Service | San Bernardino National Forest |
USGS Topo | Palm View Peak 7½ |
Official HPS Maps |
TPO file - Save to your computer then open with National Geographic TOPO! |
| Viewable JPG file - Approximately 865K |
| GPX file or Google Earth KML file to
download to GPS units and other map software (How to use GPX and KML files) |
| Routes as shown on
CalTopo using the above files (How to use CalTopo) |
Nearby Peaks: Cone Peak, Palm View Peak, Pyramid Peak, Lion Peak
Printable version of this route
ROUTE 1
- Distance: 8 miles round trip on trail and use trail
- Gain: 2300'
- Time: 4-5 hours round trip
- Rating: Class 2, moderate
- Navigation: Easy
Original: Dick Worsfold and Maria Harris, November 1973
DRIVING ROUTE 1
- Take I-10 or SR 60 east to SR 79 in Beaumont. Take exit south
to SR 79.
- Go south on SR 79 to the Ramona Expressway. Turn left (east).
- Go east and then southeast on the Ramona Expressway until it ends at
SR 74. Turn left (east).
- Go east on SR 74 to Mountain Center (junction with Idyllwild Highway
SR 243).
- Continue east on SR 74 for 8.7 miles to Morris Ranch Road on the
left at a fire station. Turn left.
- Go north on Morris Ranch Road for 3.7 miles to an iron gate on the
right with a sign "Cedar Springs Trail". Park off the pavement
near this spot.
HIKING ROUTE 1
- From your parking spot, hike down the road to the trailhead (5430').
- Go through the gate. (There are several gates on this trail. Be sure to
close each gate as you pass through it.)
Immediately on the left is another gate. Ignore it. It is another
access to the trail for equestrian riders in the area.
- Continue up the road past a water tank to another gate. The
trail turns left just before the gate.
- Soon you come to another gate. Go through this gate. Here you leave the
fences behind, as this is the National Forest boundary.
- Continue up the road as it becomes a trail and
it begins to climb until you come to another gate. This is not a boundary
but is part of a cattle drift fence. This keeps range cattle out of
selected sections of the National Forest.
- Continue up to a saddle at
6800'-. This is the junction of the Cedar Springs Trail and the Pacific
Crest Trail (PCT) on the Desert Divide.
- Turn right on the PCT and follow
it east and then south until you reach a saddle just southeast of
Pyramid Peak. This is the turnoff for
Pyramid Peak.
- Continue on the PCT about 1/4
mile to a trail on the left marked by ducks. This is the turnoff
for Lion Peak.
- Turn left (east) on this trail and follow it a short
distance up to the top of a ridge.
- Turn left again (north) and follow this
ridge up to its high point.
- Turn right (east) and hike down into the
saddle west of the peak.
- Follow a good, clearly visible ducked and brushed-out
route off to the right as it skirts the base of the hill on its west side
and slowly climbs directly up to the summit. It is not necessary to climb
the large, plinth-shaped rock at the south end of the summit ridge.
SPECIAL CONDITIONS
With the passage of time ducks disappear and brush regrows. The hiker
should be prepared to find no ducks in place and the route completely
overgrown with brush. Conditions in the field are dynamic and changes over
time are to be expected.
NOTE
The section of the route where you hike down into the saddle west of the
peak needs to be ducked. There are many use trails to this saddle, and it
would be helpful if this section of the route were ducked to focus the
travel on one preferred route.
Please report any corrections or changes to the
Mountain Records Chair.
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