The San Jacinto Mountains

The San Jacinto Mountains are a formidable feature of the Southern California landscape. A westward-tilting range that runs north-to-south, the San Jacinto Mountains are the northernmost terminus of the Peninsular Mountain Range, a group of mountains that run from the San Jacinto Mountains in the north all the way to the tip of Baja California. The San Jacintos are located roughly 50 nautical miles from the edge of the Pacific Ocean, separating the inland valley locations of Riverside and Hemet from the desert locations of Palm Springs and Palm Desert. The San Jacinto Mountains begin just south of Interstate 10 near the city of Banning in the north and run approximately 30-miles south to where they merge with the Santa Rosa Mountains, not far from the San Diego County line. The San Jacinto Mountains are a particularly steep and rocky range, and the northernmost section of the range, an area which includes Mt. San Jacinto, is home to its loftiest peaks and highest summits.

At 10,804 ft., Mt. San Jacinto is the highest mountain in the San Jacinto Mountains and the second-highest mountain in all of Southern California. It's also unsurpassed for its dramatic vertical relief; In a span of less-than four nautical miles, the north face of Mt. San Jacinto plunges over 10,000 ft. to the desert below; the steepest and sheerest mountain face found anywhere in the Continental United States. From the lofty, alpine heights of Mt. San Jacinto, a place where snow can linger well into late Spring and early Summer, the San Jacinto Mountains drop precariously in elevation and the forested ridgelines and slopes are home to a few mountain towns - the largest and most notable of these is Idyllwild, a quaint mile-high mountain village of 3,000 people - and a few small fishing lakes, which include tiny Lake Fulmor and the larger, more popular Lake Hemet. Due to the extreme elevation variations of the San Jacinto Mountains, the climate and vegetation is extremely diverse.

The western slopes of the San Jacinto Mountains, the side facing the Pacific Ocean, is heavily-forested and receives the brunt of rain and snow from cool Pacific storms that move across Southern California. The lower slopes are heavily-covered in chaparral, which is a thick, scrubby brush covering, and as the slopes rise in elevation, pine, oak, and cedar begin to dominate. On the eastern slopes of the San Jacinto Mountains, the desert or "leeward" side, the slopes are drier and the vegetation is sparse; the eastern side of the range shows a heavy desert influence, and snow and rain levels are much less than on the western slopes. These eastern slopes are home to a healthy population of desert bighorn sheep that thrive on the rocky, sun-exposed slopes. Temperatures in the San Jacinto Mountains can range from sub-zero at the top of Mt. San Jacinto in Winter to well-past the 90-degree mark on the lower, drier slopes in Summer.

In Southern California, an area that is home to many towering mountain peaks and summits, the San Jacinto Mountains are a unique and dramatic backdrop to the areas varied topography.