We are headed out to Idyllwild this weekend for a backpacking trip to summit Mt. San Jacinto, hike #7 of our “10 Pack” of training hikes. We decided to hike the peak from a different approach so that we wouldn’t have to re-live our previous attempt. Plus this is actually a longer and more challenging route that is better suited for backpacking.

We will be carrying our SPOT personal locator device, so if you want to monitor our progress, check out our location updates on this map.

So far we’ve been on schedule and successful with all our other training hikes. We are managing to speed up our pace a bit and are gaining a lot more experience with much longer hikes requiring more endurance. Last weekend we hiked Santiago Peak which was longer mileage and more gain than Mt. Wilson, but we finished in less time and much less exhausted. It still wasn’t our most enjoyable hike as we’ll post later, but we definitely feel that we are on track to Mt. Whitney!

Here’s a quick look at what we’ve done so far and what’s left for the summer:

Mt. Wilson (5,710’) – 14 miles, 4000 ft gain [completed April 1]

Mt. Baden Powell (9,400’) – 8 miles, 2800 ft gain [completed May 13]

Cucamonga Peak (8,859’) – 11.5 miles, 4300 ft gain [completed May 19]

Mt San Antonio aka Baldy (10,064’) – 10.5 miles, 3900 ft gain [completed June 3]

San Bernardino Peak (10,649’) & East San Bernardino (10,691′)– 16.5 miles, 5500 ft gain [completed June 16-17]

Santiago Peak (5,689’) – 15.5 miles, 4450 ft gain [completed June 24]

Mt. San Jacinto (10,800’) – 19.3 miles, 5200 ft gain (updated route for this weekend)

Telescope Peak (11,050’) – 14 miles, 3000 ft gain [scheduled July 14]

Mt. San Gorgonio (11,502’) – 21 miles, 4600 ft gain [scheduled July 28-29]

White Mt. (14,246’) – 14 miles, 3300 ft gain [scheduled August 11]

Compared to: Mt. Whitney (14,504’) – 22 miles, 6600 ft gain [scheduled August 26-28]