Distance: 10 miles round trip on trail and cross country
Summit Elevation: 3808'
Elevation Gain: 3396'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 2.7
Round trip time: 6 hours
Recommended water: 120 oz.
Parking/Fees: Free at Art Smith Trailhead
Difficulty: Strenuous
We were in Palm Springs for a couple of days while Leisa attended a work conference. I had recently discovered Haystack Mountain in the Santa Rosa foothills. I was still recoving from a non-covid virus, so was moving slowly. The starting point was the Art Smith Trailhead in Palm Desert. The first half mile was through a flood plain with not much of a trail. Other people were also getting a start and I could see them on the trail cut into the hill on the opposite side. There was a nice metal sign at the base of the trail. The trail was well groomed and started up in earnest through rock piles and varieties of cactus. Barrel cactus in particular seemed to love this area and got larger as I went up. I passed a couple of splinter trails that descended to residential areas. About 2.5 miles in, I reached a palm oasis with second one in view. A few hikers were gathered around the oasis, a popular destination.
A little more than 3 miles in, I left the trail and headed toward Haystack, looming above everything else. There were multiple ridge line options, but the second ridge seemed the most uniform. I started north of the major gully and stayed above it on the approach. When I got around it, I had already passed the start of the ridge, so took a sidehill angle to reach it. Dirt on the side of the ridge was loose and I would have been better off starting at the bottom of the ridge. Once I gained the ridge, there were 4 peaklets to overcome. Each had a steep class 2 finish, then the slope leveled off until the next one. The final peaklet was class 3 but had a class 2 bypass on the right. The final mile gained 1300'. When I got off the ridge, it was an easy quarter mile walk up. The summit had a large cairn and a register that went back to 2010. I was surprised how often it had been visited, maybe 10 people a year. A reference mark was at the high point, but the benchmark was 114' away at an overlook. The reason I know that is that the reference mark had the distance recorded precisely. The marks were not placed by the USGS, but by the War Department in 1951, an unusual find. Perhaps that accounts for the precision of their stamps. I found the views on top superlative. San Jacinto and Gorgonio maintained their winter snow coats, but were looking less covered than last month. I spent about 20 minutes on the summit before starting down the same ridge. I continued to the bottom of the ridge and intersected the Art Smith trail around the same spot I left it. The descent confirmed that taking the ridge all the way was best. This hike fell in my sweet spot for difficulty and time. I waffled on whether to rate it moderate or strenuous, but opted for the harder rating based on the cross country and ridge scramble.
