Hiked: 8/22/2021
Distance: 10.8 miles round trip on trail
Summit Elevation: 10839' (San Jacinto), 10560' (Azimuth)
Elevation Gain: 2650'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 2.1
Round trip time: 6 hours
Recommended water: 96 oz.
Parking/Fees: $10 parking, $29/person Aerial Tramway
Difficulty: Moderate
Leisa and I took the Aerial Tramway to Mountain Station to hike to San Jacinto. It was her first visit and my 4th. We were on the first tram up with a group of fellow hikers. After filling out the free permit, and convincing the ranger we knew where we going, we followed the trail out of Long Valley and into the forest. We took one break at Wellmans Divide, then continued up to the hut and summit. An LA hiking group got there before us and we had to wait 15 minutes for them to finish their social media shots before we could get one photo at the summit sign. On the way down, I led us 300' off trail toward the Azimuth benchmark. Just before we reached the boulder pile with the Azimuth, we were detained by a guy whose girlfriend was relieving herself behind a boulder. We waited until she emerged from hiding. It took me a few minutes of searching to find the Azimuth mark in the shade of a pine tree. Finding the mark was a silly peakbagging thing, but still glad I found it. We finished the hike with cold beers at Mountain Station.
FYI...An azimuth mark is a station that is associated with a primary station. The important aspect of an azimuth mark is that its bearing from the main station is based on true North. This bearing from the main station to the aziumuth station can then be used by other surveyors to align their equipment based on true North without having to make complex measurements to determine true North. Generally, an azimuth mark disk will say "AZIMUTH" on its rim and there will also be an arrow across the center of the disk that points toward the primary station. The disk's designation stamping might contain "AZ" as well.
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