I am not a hiker. Four weeks before May 2, 2026, I had never done a hike outside my hometown. My group trained me at Mission Peak and North Peak in the Bay Area — four weeks of weekend climbs to get my legs ready. Then we drove down to Palm Springs, rented an Airbnb, and on the night of May 1st I set an alarm for midnight.
Cactus to Clouds is rated one of the hardest day hikes in the world. 10,800 feet of climbing. 20 miles. Starting in the Sonoran Desert and ending on the summit of Mt. San Jacinto at 10,834 feet. I didn't fully understand what I had signed up for until I was already on the trail.
The Start: 12:30am, Palm Springs Art Museum
Eight of us left the Palm Springs Art Museum parking lot at 12:30am. It was dark and warm — desert warm, the kind that doesn't feel dangerous yet. I had my headlamp on, trekking poles in hand, and 6 liters of water: 2 in a hydration bladder on my back and 4 in bottles.
The Skyline Trail starts steep immediately. There are no official trail markers for the first several miles — just white painted dots on rocks that local hikers maintain. In the dark, you hike from dot to dot, scanning with your headlamp. Navigation on this section is genuinely hard. I stayed close to my group and trusted them completely. Without them I would have gone off trail within the first mile.
The first gut check is a set of picnic benches about a mile in. We stopped briefly, checked in with each other, and kept moving. The climbing doesn't relent.
Rescue 1 to Grubbs Notch: The Real Work
By the time we passed Rescue 1 at around mile 2.5, the sun was coming up. The desert opened up below us and the views started. But the trail kept going up — relentlessly, brutally up. Almost 1,000 feet of gain per mile on the Skyline.
Tombstone Rock. Flat Rock. The Traverse. Each landmark felt like a small victory and a reminder of how much was left. The Traverse section — steep, loose, shaded — was where I started to feel the weight of the day. My legs were working. My mind was working harder.
Then Grubbs Notch.
When we pulled ourselves over that notch, other hikers around us said the same thing: "The hard part is over. It's easy from here." My group echoed it. I believed it. I made a decision I would regret.
The Mistake: Long Valley Ranger Station
At the Long Valley Ranger Station — mile 10, elevation 8,600 feet — I dumped my four water bottles. All of them. I kept only the 1 liter remaining in my hydration bladder. My hiking partner did the same. We had just climbed 8,000 feet in 10 miles. We were tired. The bottles felt heavy. And everyone said it was easy from here.
What nobody told us — what I didn't understand from reading any guide — is that "easy" is relative. Easy compared to the Skyline. Not easy in any absolute sense. Long Valley to the summit is another 4.5 miles and 2,200 feet of climbing at altitude, through pine forest, past Round Valley, up to Wellman Divide, and then a rocky scramble to the top. For a first-time hiker at hour 10 of a 20-mile day, it is not easy.
It took me 8 hours from Long Valley to the summit and back to the tram. Eight hours on 1 liter of water.
Running Dry
Somewhere between Long Valley and the summit, my bladder ran empty. I squeezed the hose and got nothing. I kept hiking.
The headache came on gradually — a dull pressure behind my eyes that I tried to ignore. I had pain relievers in my pack and took them. I focused on what had gotten me through the Skyline: baby steps. One foot, then the other. Don't look at the distance remaining. Just move.
Nobody in my group had extra water to share. We were all managing our own reserves. I pushed through dry.
The Summit: 5pm
We reached the summit of Mt. San Jacinto at 5pm — nearly 17 hours after leaving the trailhead. Most hikers had already descended to catch the last tram. The summit was quiet. Just me and my hiking partner and a view that stretched across the entire Coachella Valley and beyond.
I don't have the right words for what I felt up there. Positivity is the closest I can get — a kind of amplified, clear-headed positivity that the altitude and the exhaustion and the views all combined to produce. The breeze was cold and clean. We took pictures.
I thought about my kids and my spouse. They had managed everything at home while I trained and traveled. They had cheered me on and asked for updates. Standing on that summit, I dedicated the hike to them. They made it possible.
The Descent and the Tram
Coming down from the summit to the tram station is 5.5 miles of trail you've never hiked before, on legs that have already done 14.5 miles and 10,800 feet of climbing. It is not a victory lap. It is work.
We reached Mountain Station at 8:30pm. The tram was still running. We bought drinks at the gift shop, sat down, and didn't say much for a while. The tram ride down felt surreal — watching the desert floor rise up to meet us, the same terrain we had climbed in the dark now lit by the last light of the day.
Total time: 20 hours. Start to finish.
What I Learned
Don't dump your water at Long Valley. The right approach — especially for someone like me on their first big hike — is 3 liters from the start to the Long Valley Ranger Station, then refill 3 liters there for the second half. That's it. I carried 6 liters to the ranger station and threw 4 of them away. My partner did the same. Don't do that. Other hikers telling you it's easy from Grubbs Notch are not lying — they're just measuring against the Skyline. Carry the water anyway.
"Easy from here" is not a water strategy. I ran out between Long Valley and the summit. I finished with a headache and no water. That is a serious situation on a remote alpine trail. It could have been much worse.
Baby steps are a real strategy. When the trail felt impossible — at Grubbs Notch, on the Long Valley plateau, on the final rocky scramble — I stopped thinking about the summit and focused on the next step. Just the next step. It works.
Your group is everything. I would not have navigated the Skyline in the dark alone. I would not have had the confidence to attempt this hike without four weeks of training with people who believed I could do it. If you're a first-time big hiker, do this with people who know what they're doing.
Train seriously. Mission Peak and North Peak gave me the leg strength to survive this hike. They did not fully prepare me for 20 miles and 10,800 feet. but gave my group the confidence that I could do C2C.
The Numbers
| Date | May 2, 2026 |
| Start time | 12:30am |
| Summit time | 5:00pm |
| Tram station | 8:30pm |
| Total time | ~20 hours |
| Distance | 20 miles |
| Elevation gain | 10,800 ft |
| Group size | 8 hikers |
| Water carried | 6L (dumped 4L at Long Valley — don't do this) |
Would I Do It Again?
Yes. But I'd carry the water.
C2C is genuinely one of the hardest things I've done. It is also one of the most rewarding. The Skyline at dawn, the silence on the summit, the tram ride down — those moments don't fade. If you're considering it, train hard, respect the water, and go with people you trust.
Route reference: hikingguy.com/hikes/cactus-to-clouds — the most thorough C2C guide I found, and the one I used to plan this hike.
