To get to this awesome peak, I took Black Mountain Road (4S01) south of Lake Fulmor, right off of 243, instead of the Black Mountain Trail further north which is the usual hiking route. The trail route I believe is 7 mi round trip/2,600' gain/loss. My route up the road is 11 miles round trip with 2,400' gain. The elevation gain is spread out over longer miles making the hike moderate as opposed to what other people label the trail route as strenuous. I took the road route because it looked more lush and shadier from what I have seen on Google Earth (I wanted to see lots of big pines, cedars, and firs. The only slight issue was the amount of truck traffic up and down. But the road gate was closed before Boulder Basin Campground, so the last mile to the summit and the lookout tower was very peaceful under tall Jeffrey Pines, Sugar Pines, Incense-Cedars, and White Firs, a few of which are quite tall and lush. There was nobody else on the summit the entire time I was on it, so it was just huge boulders, lizards, squirrels, birds, and I on a very windy summit (chilly, refreshing Santa Ana winds at nearly 8,000'). There are many large boulders to scramble in route and on the summit, so there is another little fun side-activity as well. I returned the same way and between the top and bottom, there was a 20 degree (F) difference. It was in the low 50's on top (7,772'), and the low to mid 70's back at 243 (5,300'). I thoroughly enjoyed my first real hike in the San Jacintos, and cannot wait to do more peaks in them this year!