Pine Mountain

"Long day on (and off) a section of the PCT - hiked from Route 74 (close to Santa Rosa Summit) to downtown Idyllwild. Around 35 miles total with the various detours to bag these peaks. I was too impatient and attacked Lion Peak from the South rather than waiting to get to the saddle which resulted in heinous bushwhacking and class 4 climbing. Learned my lesson on Pine Mountain and stuck to the cairns religiously which helped me avoid the horror scenarios described by others on this site. Palm View Peak is really close to the trail, but nevertheless required fighting through a good amount of thorns. My chosen technique was to try to use fallen logs as much as possible to stay above the fray. Spitler and Apache were conquered after nightfall (I started the day late), and with many miles to go I decided to stick to the trail from there on. Got to my hotel room after 2am..." — danishclimber • Aug 14, 2024

"This one was the real asskicker of the day. It is very confusing to find the social trail from the pct as there are a few oak trees obscuring the view, the start is right after the cairn, near the saddle. From there it’s pretty easy to get up to the ridge line, where you have to descend to the saddle. Then the real fun begins, the bushwhacking is pretty atrocious on this route. The manzanita and scrub park are anywhere from 2 to 8 feet tall and grow onto the trail. Try and follow the cairns as best you can, it gets confusing. Then it’s a class 3 scramble up to the HPS summit, where the benchmarks and register is located. The true summit is class 5 and looked like a pretty difficult climb too" — trevormaziek • Apr 16, 2023

"A nice hike on the PCT to bag some peaks. Little Desert was the easiest, just 20 yards off the PCT, followed by Pyramid, Lion and the real butt kicker, Pine Mountain. I lost the “trail” to Pine probably 50 times, and ruined my hiking shirt plowing through the thick brush, but I did make it! Beautiful day, and I came across a half dozen through hikers! I couldn’t find a register on Pyramid or Pine, and the register on Lion was full." — Mojavewanderer • Mar 27, 2022

"I had intended to go snowshoeing in the San Bernardinos, but crazy traffic on Hwy 330 had me divert to the Desert Divide. This is a new area for me; I had previously done a bit around San Jacinto proper but nothing south along the divide. After previous misadventures in Los Padres, I carried a lightweight pair of loppers. This was a great idea. I was able to clip portions of the use trail up Lion Peak. On Pyramid peak I clipped a long stretch of trail from the middle saddle up to the summit. With the existing ducks, the trail should hopefully be easier to follow now. I thought about giving Palm View and Cone Peak a tag on the way back, but decided to save them for another visit. All in all, a great day in the mountains." — edg • Jan 8, 2022

"Sierra Club hike 4-peak traverse, 2 miles 1-way w/800' gain from Little Desert Peak(6,868') on PCT and peak access trail. Led by Bruce C, George C, Pat V, Wayne B, Pat A + hikers Bill J and Richard A. Maintained, unmaintained trail, bushwack and scrambling req'd near summit! " — BradStemm • Sep 26, 2014

"This is the most challenging of the three peaks in this area of the divide, with the key being to follow the cairns religiously. Climbed the named and HPS recognized summit, also with a nice block, although the true highest point is an enormous upright boulder detached from the summit with a solid 5th class rating." — Christopher • Jan 25, 2014

"My first attempt to summit Pine a few weeks earlier proved to be a disaster--I thought I'd be spending the night on the mountain--so this was sweet redemption for me. The hike was led by Jill G. of SoCal Hike and Peakbag 4 Season Hikes, and it was certainly helpful to hike with someone who knew where she was going. The trail was a good bit clearer than it had been earlier in the month, so thank you to whoever did the clipping and trail marking. I could also easily see the two major spots where I had gone astray before, and I didn't feel like a total idiot: there were two turns that weren't exactly super clear. That said, it was great to stand on top of this one at last! This was the second peak of a 3-peak day, preceded by Pyramid and followed by Lion." — HikerMark • Jan 25, 2014