Socal Hike: Holy Jim Falls to the highest point in Orange County: Santiago Peak on Saddleback/Santa Ana mountains

EDIT: I just realized that this was saved as a draft and never posted immediately after our hike on Nov. 30, 2013. Apologies!!! We're 4 days away from our hike to Kilimanjaro.
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Quick Stats from Endomondo:


I always wanted to do this hike but I read that your standard sedans would not make it on the road... and they were right. The roads were SUPER bumpy and full of pot holes. My friend was gracious enough to drive his Tundra.

This hike was a last minute hike. Our original plan was to do Mt. Baldy or San Gorgonio. Mt. Baldy was going to have snow at the summit and my friend and I didn't want to risk slippery and icy conditions a month before our trip. San Gorgonio requires a day permit just to hike! Make sure that you plan at least a week or two in advance because the application form requires 5 business days!

If you're going to do the full hike to the top, I would suggest going as early as possible. I arrived at about 9:30am and didn't come back to our vehicle until closer to 7pm (and the sun had set at 4:30pm! so yes, we walked in pitch black - but with 2 headlamps for the 3 of us)

Which reminds me: ALWAYS bring the 10 essentials when you go on any hike.

Entrance at the trail head. I love this picture!!!
I will keep the comments short and post lots of pics instead!

We started at about 1000 feet above sea level. You can see the antennas in the far distance. That is our summit.

You can see Lake Elsinore from these mountain tops. We hiked the day after it rained so it was beautifully clear and surprisingly dry grounds.

After about 5 hours, we finally reached the top. There's not much of a view but many many antennas.
Here's an excerpt from Wikipedia about the antennas.

Santiago Peak is a radio site with buildings owned by American Tower, Crown Castle, Mobile Relay, Day Wireless, Orange County Communications, the United States Federal Government, the State of California, and Southern California Edison, among others.
Santiago Peak provides radio coverage over much of Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside, and San Diego counties. It houses both broadcast and two-way communications facilities on virtually every frequency band, including FM broadcast, VHF low- and high-band, UHF, 800/900 MHz, and microwave.

Another picture of the clear beautiful skies and clear mountain/hill lines. A rare sighting in southern california.

Picture of the antennas further away + the pacific ocean.

View of Lake Elsinore from the top of Orange County.