Santiago Peak Trip Report by Mike Downey

Santiago Peak (5,687) towers over Orange County, as seen from Trabuco Canyon Road.

Pre-climb: I had been considering a few different routes including the Coldwater Trail and the Indian Truck Truck. But both ended up being unreliable, so I decided to go up the Holy Jim Trail, which is a little bit further to get to. I had also planned to bring up several people with me who flaked, so I just went up with Cliff.

After spending all of the previous night playing basketball and only getting about 3 hours of sleep, I was still alittle tired by the time I had to wait up at 4 A.M. Luckily, we got off to a quick start and reached Santa Margarita via the 241 Tollroad. This was the point at which the confusion began. We turned left on Plano de Trabuco but missed the turnoff for the Trabuco Creek Road. Twice in fact as it was totally dark at 5 in the morning. We ended up driving north all the way to Modjeska Canyon before deciding to turn back to ask someone where the turnoff is.

When we finally found the turnoff, we read the huge Private Property sign beside the road that gives the impression that the road is restricted. This added to our confusion until we saw someone pull up with a couple of ATVs heading up the road.

The road is not reccomended for low-clearance cars like the Toyota Corolla we took up to the trailhead. Along the way, we scratched the bottom on a few rocks.

The Climb: We arrived at the trailhead at 6:50 A.M. and took off up the trail. I was surprised to see so many houses in the canyon, I mean, I thought this was all National Forest land.

Holy Jim Creek was running well throught the canyon. We crossed it several times both ways. We didn't see anyone along the trail for a few miles. It was totally quiet.

We reached the turnoff for the waterfall, but decided to check it out if we had time on the way back.

The next two miles were quiet and uneventful, going through thick chaparelle. The sun was just coming up over the Santa Ana Mountains. It was pretty cool.

I was really beginning to feel sick at this point as I hadn't really eaten much for almost 24 hours. My stomach didn't feel very good and I had to puke. I tried eating an apple but that didn't work.

At the Main Divide Truck Trail, Cliff and I took it very slow the rest of the way up, since I was still sick. After awhile, I just got to the point where I could only go a few hundred yards without having to stop. I must have puked about 5 times. I would keep trying to drink water and gatorade but it wouldn't stay down.

Near the top, there was still some snow in the shadows, but not much. It looked like it could easily melt out within the next week or so.

Finally we reached the summit at around 10:30 A.M. We just picked a spot on the southend of the summit complex, with a nice view towards the ocean, and Mount San Jacinto. The weather was overcast at this point, but the views were still nice. I snapped a few pictures of the views. To try to regain some strength, I forced myself to eat a whole bag of beef-jerkey, which seemed to do the job.

We headed back down at about 11:30 A.M. and set a pretty good pace since I was feeling a lot better. We were down to the Holy Jim Trail in like an hour, where we ran into a few mountain bikers.

The last five miles of the trip went surprisingly fast. We reached the bottom of Holy Jim Canyon at around 2 P.M. and the car by 2:30 P.M.

The trip back was not as rough on Cliff's car but we still hit a few rocks along the way. I can just imagine everyone who saw us saying, "What! They brought a Corolla up here?"

Santiago Thumbnails:

Thick vegetation along Holy Jim Trail with Santiago in distance

Trabuco Canyon to the south where the trail climbs up

View from the summit to the southwest, towards Dana Point (I believe)

View from summit to east towards Mt San Jacinto (10,804) with radio tower to left, Temescal Canyon in below

A look north up down the road towards Mt San Gorgonio (11,502)

Another shot east towards San Jacinto

Some snow on the road near the summit

Looking back towards Santiago from the road below

About the Author

I am currently a student at University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA), where I intend to get a degree in Political Science and Geography/Environmental Studies. When I'm not studying, you will find me in the mountains. I have been climbing since I was pretty little and have done climbs throughout California, Colorado and Arizona, including the highpoints of those states. I have done Mount Whitney and Mount Elbert, but I plan on doing some even higher mountains, maybe Aconcagua, Mount Mckinley or Kilimanjaro, Check back with me in about 10 years. Meanwhile you can check out some of the other trips reports:

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