Pyramid Peak

"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

"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

"Despite just visiting Little Desert, Pyramid Peak seemed like the first true summit of the day. The conical summit sits off the PCT, which requires a steep scramble off the trail. I found a rock cairn below the summit while still on the PCT. I took this to represent the use trail to the summit. My instincts were proven correct, as cairns continued all the way up the slope. I found the benchmark and was surprised with the name "Morris" on the benchmark. At first I thought I was on a different peak, but subsequent research made it clear to me that this was indeed Pyramid Peak. From there I continued south to the other peaks." — MikeTeeples • Nov 10, 2017

"Sierra Club hike, 1.3 miles from Lion Peak(6,871') w/300' gain on PCT and access trails. Descent to cars was 3.6 miles w/1,600' loss from Pyramid Peak on PCT and Cedar Springs switchback trail." — BradStemm • Sep 26, 2014

"This was a hike with the SoCal Hike and Peakbag 4 Season Hikes group, led by Jill G. Great, fun group! Pyramid was the first peak of a 3-peak day, to be followed by Pine and Lion." — HikerMark • Jan 25, 2014