I have completed my 3rd summit of this mountain on 4/8/17. I am making it a yearly pilgrimage to hike to Santiago Peak, so I can make a hiking tradition for myself. I needed another Santa Ana mountains fix before the weather gets and stays too hot to hike below 6000'. I picked a nice, cool day for this, because it would be even more strenuous than it is already with even mildly warm weather. This time, I came from another area. My hike started about 6am. I took Indian Truck Trail (near I-15 - Riverside County) nearly 7 miles (2,500' gain) to Main Divide. I turned right at Main Divide came to the junction of Upper Holy Jim Trail, and took Upper Holy Jim Trail (bottom at 4,030'): the small trail sign is now missing; look for a trail branching off under a few small Bigcone Douglas-Firs; I took the Upper Holy Jim through manzanita chaparral (with a few picturesque, stunted Coulter Pines here and there) rejoining Main Divide at the hairpin turn at 4,870.' I turned right on Main Divide. I then followed Main Divide to the summit (5,687'). It is about 11-11.5 miles one way, and it took me 7hr 45m to summit at about 1:40pm. There were many clouds, so views were hard to find, but the chilly breezes on the summit felt sweet to the skin. I started my descent at 2pm and went back down the same way I came up. I was back at my car at 6:35pm with blistered and sore feet, with a sense of accomplishment. The Indian Truck Trail has many motorbikes and SUV's, but the views and scenery is surreal with great views to the Inland Empire and higher mountains (when there is no cloudiness). There are several shady spots above 3,000' elevation where Bigcone Douglas-Firs, and then dense forests of Coulter Pines provide a scenic, relaxing and fragrant air. The soft and soothing sound of the cool wind blowing through the Coulter Pine and Bigcone Douglas-Fir needles reminded me of hiking in the Jeffrey Pine/Sugar Pine/White Fir forests of the San Gabriels, another favorite mountain range for me to hike in. Since I hiked in early April, there were many blooms like Chaparral Yucca, Phacelia, Bush Poppy, Ceanothus, Baby Blue-Eyes, Monkey Flower, Fiddlenecks, Cryptantha, just to name a few! The juxtaposition of chaparral, oak and pine forest, and mountains partially covered in clouds made for an incredible hike that I will never forget; thankfully, I have a good camera to capture these moments for others to see, but the images my eyes captured are locked in my soul. The hike as a whole is definitely strenuous, mostly for the long mileage and a few steep parts. The grade of Indian Truck Trail is not too steep. The hike up it is not strenuous at all. The hardest parts are on Upper Holy Jim and the steep parts on Main Divide. The round trip is 22.5-23 miles and about 4,500' elevation gain, probably a bit long and tedious for many day hikers, but to me worth every foot of elevation gain (and loss), and every blister on my sore feet. Days like this are why I hike in the first place.