The Rosa Fire on the south-east fringe of the San Jacinto mountains is now largely under control. The fire started alongside Highway 74 west of Ribbonwood just after noon on 4th August, quickly spreading to 1700 acres. Highway 74, closed for five days in the vicinity of the fire, reopened at midnight on Friday 8th.
Palm Springs Aerial Tramway closed indefinitely for emergency maintenance starting Friday 8th August, and is expected to remain closed until at least Tuesday 12th. The annual scheduled 2025 maintenance closure is from 8th September until at least 12th October.
Air quality improved on 5th August after two very poor days, with smoke enveloping the San Jacinto mountains (photos below) starting on Sunday 3rd, mainly from the huge Gifford Fire far to our north-west. Early morning on Monday 4th the smoke had settled in the flatlands below 7000 ft, and hiking in the high country was the place to be, but by late morning the smoke was again climbing over 9000 ft and well into Strawberry Valley (where Idyllwild is located). Sunlight on both days was muted – like a partial solar eclipse – similar to the impact of the Grand Canyon fires in mid July.
Temperatures are again heating to above seasonal for the first two weeks of August, with modest cooling not forecast until Friday 15th. Temperatures that had been at or above seasonal since late May finally dropped to near seasonal starting 16th July. In the third week of July we were treated to a hint of September, with temperatures at all elevations below seasonal for several days, exemplified by the windchill temperature of 35.4°F (2°C) I recorded at San Jacinto Peak on Friday 25th July.
Hikers should be prepared for unseasonably hot weather, especially on 6th-14th August, with temperatures well above seasonal even for midsummer. Please give considerable extra thought to route choice, start times, clothing, sun protection, and water requirements (the latter especially challenging in this dry year).
Water flows everywhere are low (many photos below) with ephemeral sources now dry. Key hiker water sources such as Wellman’s Cienega and the pipe in Round Valley are flowing and may maintain useable flow into the autumn. Ephemeral sources along Marion Mountain Trail are all dry for the first time in more than two years. Deer Springs creek dried up in late July where it crosses the trail of the same name. Flow in the creek in Little Round Valley has dropped dramatically since late July, and while a few small pools persist for filtering by campers, it is largely dry now, other than about a hundred yards in the middle of the valley (most accessible by the sign for campsite 2). The North Fork is completely dry where it crossed by Seven Pines Trail, but is flowing gently higher up where it crosses both Fuller Ridge and Deer Springs trails. Hidden Lake dried by the end of June. Long Valley Creek is dry where it passes through Round Valley. Water is flowing reliably in Tahquitz Creek at PCT Mile 177 and again further downstream at the north end of Little Tahquitz Meadow (although it is dry between those two locations). The pipe in Tahquitz Meadow dried up in mid July. Skunk Cabbage Meadow creek is close to drying and no longer has sufficient depth for filtering. Strawberry Cienega is now dry. Middle Spring on Devil’s Slide Trail was functionally dry by 1st August, but a tiny pool persists from which dogs can drink.
It should be clear from the paragraphs above that fire risk is currently severe. Full fire restrictions began on Tuesday 1st July 2025 on Forest Service lands, as described on the USFS website linked here. Campfires throughout USFS lands in the San Jacinto Mountains, including all campgrounds and yellow post sites, are now prohibited.
Fire lookouts at Black Mountain and Tahquitz Peak are closed indefinitely due to issues identified in a May 2025 safety inspection of Black Mountain lookout. USFS has informed the Trail Report that Tahquitz Peak lookout could reopen by September once upgrades to its lightning conductor array are completed, but there is little optimism that Black Mountain lookout will reopen this season.
Be rattlesnake aware. Above about 5000 ft elevation, the venom of Southern Pacific Rattlesnakes (Crotalus [oreganus] helleri) in the San Jacinto mountains is predominantly neurotoxic, almost always fatal for dogs and sometimes for humans (see my detailed article linked here for further information describing our dogs’ survival after a July 2020 neurotoxic bite). Devil’s Slide Trail, lower Deer Springs and lower Marion Mountain trails, Suicide Rock, near Strawberry Cienega, and trails around Tahquitz Peak are frequent locations for sightings, but rattlesnakes have been recorded widely up to 9350 ft (see example photos of an adult and a juvenile in the previous Report linked here).
Be bear aware. Although rarely reported in recent years, at least three individually identifiable Black Bears have been in the San Jacinto mountains since 2017, and I have personally seen at least one annually for the past six years. One adult-sized, light chestnut-colored individual was reliably reported – with photographs – from Willow Creek Trail adjacent to Skunk Cabbage Meadow on 12th July 2025 (information courtesy of Mike Meyer). I photographed fresh tracks in snow on 12th February 2024 at 9000 ft near PCT Mile 180.5 (photo linked here), and my brief videos from Devil’s Slide Trail in September 2021 (available here) and one walking through our property in Idyllwild in 2018 (linked here) show two different individuals. There have been no reports of negative interactions with humans at or near campsites or on trails.
Dark Canyon Road (4S02) reopened in May and the dirt section has had some effective basic maintenance. The associated Dark Canyon campground will be closed for the year due to federal budget issues.
Survey hikes by the Trail Report every single day throughout the year in the San Jacinto mountains include multiple routes to various high peaks including San Jacinto Peak typically 2-3 times per week (more frequently during stormy weather), Tahquitz Peak and area at least once per week, plus a wide variety of other trails on intervening days.
WEATHER
Temperatures were generally above seasonal for nearly two months from 20th May until mid July, with heatwaves above even midsummer averages between 10th-20th June and again in the second week of July. Daytime high temperatures were then somewhat below average for the month starting Thursday 17th July for ten days.
Temperatures warmed again to slightly above seasonal starting Tuesday 29th July and then to well above seasonal starting Saturday 2nd August. Temperatures are now forecast to be well above seasonal even for midsummer on at least 7th-14th August.
Monsoon conditions have largely failed in the desert south-west so far this season, with no significant precipitation forecast for the San Jacinto mountains for the foreseeable future. Localized monsoonal thunderstorms on 17th-18th July produced some intense rain at lower elevations along the Highway 74 corridor and to the north of the San Jacinto mountains, but there was no measurable precipitation anywhere above 5000 ft, and only a few raindrops in Idyllwild.
The air temperature of 64.4°F (18°C) at San Jacinto Peak on Monday 14th July was the hottest this year and the seventh highest I have ever recorded at that location. Notably, five of the six higher temperatures ever were all from 2024, indicative of the strong heating trend increasingly affecting the high country in recent years.
At San Jacinto Peak (10,810ft/3295m) on Friday 8th August 2025 at 0830 the air temperature was 56.8°F (14°C), with a “windchill” temperature of 50.9°F (11°C), 37% relative humidity, and a pleasantly cool WSW wind sustained at 8 mph gusting to 14.7 mph.
At the Peak on Monday 4th August 2025 at 0830 the air temperature was 55.1°F (13°C), with a “windchill” temperature of 48.9°F (9°C), 9% relative humidity, and a moderate due West wind sustained at 10 mph gusting to 16.3 mph.
At the Peak on Friday 1st August 2025 at 0850 the air temperature was 57.5°F (14°C), with a “windchill” temperature of 49.1°F (10°C), 16% relative humidity, and a variable SW wind sustained at 7 mph gusting to 12.0 mph.
TRAIL CONDITIONS
The established trail system was completely clear of snow by late May. The Wolf Fire in late June had no significant impact on the trail system.
Work from mid 2024 to early 2025 by various crews largely resolved the backlog of downed trees on PCT Miles 170-175 (roughly Apache Peak to Red Tahquitz) accumulated during 5+ years of agency neglect. Six trees remain to be cut around South Peak (Miles 173.5-174) of which most are significant obstructions for hikers. Lengthy sections of the trail are badly overgrown with brush and in their worst condition in decades, especially most of Miles 168-174, but PCTA/Forest Service seem to show little interest in improving this situation. Regrettably post-fire erosion has created a loose, rocky, and uneven tread in some parts of the same section, requiring caution in places.
The two large downed trees near PCT Mile 180 were removed by the Trail Report in May. The Strawberry Trail (PCT Miles 180.8-183.1) has ten blowdowns, none of which pose major hazards to hikers. Of the eight on the Forest Service section, several have been down for 8-10 years and reported repeatedly but with no action. The brush between the cienega and Annie’s Junction (roughly Miles 181-181.7) has become heavily overgrown since it was last trimmed in 2021.
Five further blowdowns remain on the Deer Springs Trail portion of the PCT (Miles 183-185), some of which are major obstructions, albeit with workarounds. For the first time in a decade, upper Deer Springs Trail – between the top of Marion Mountain Trail and Little Round Valley – is now clear of blowdowns, with the Trail Report having removed eight trees this spring, including the two major hazards at PCT Mile 185.3 that came down this past winter. [About ten further trees would need to be cut to restore the original route of Deer Springs Trail above Little Round Valley, but there is no prospect of that happening soon, if ever. That section of trail, despite too many minor workarounds, remains relatively easy to follow.]
The maintenance condition of the Fuller Ridge (Miles 185.5-190.5) section of the PCT improved in July 2025, having been in very poor condition earlier in the year. The Trail Report cleared nine of 15 blowdowns mid-month (example photo below). A PCTA volunteer crew the following week largely removed the remaining six trees and undertook some brush trimming and clearing of debris, but sadly the opportunity was missed to comprehensively clear and trim this trail.
On the Wellman Trail, Wellman’s Cienega is flowing relatively poorly (photo below) but there is still plenty of water for hikers for now. The Trail Report continues the work it started last year to keep this trail clear (after it had become badly overgrown by early 2024).
For the first time in more than 15 years Seven Pines Trail has a continuous route completely cleared of blowdown trees, with the trail also as faithful to the original route as possible. The Trail Report “adopted” Seven Pines as a priority for maintenance work nearly a decade ago due to a disproportionate number of lost hiker rescues (with State Park and Forest Service evidently no longer maintaining the route). Since 2019 we have now removed exactly 100 downed trees – including 25 since April of this year – and the trail is largely trimmed and cleared annually. Although our work has restored this delightful trail, Seven Pines remains a genuine wilderness trail unlike the wider, bare, obvious routes of, for example, Devil’s Slide or Marion Mountain trails. Cautious navigation remains invaluable for those without extensive experience of hiking this trail.
Black Mountain Road is open and in its typical non-graded condition, i.e. lumpy but readily passable in any moderate clearance vehicle. The tap at Cinco Poses Spring currently has reliable water but this may not last beyond August (located alongside the road 0.2 mile below the Boulder Basin turning).
Willow Creek Trail is in its best condition since it was thoroughly cleared in 2020. The four new trees that came down on the Forest Service section in January 2025 were cut in June-July. Whitethorn needs trimming again especially near the boundary between the two agencies, but is not as overgrown as it was in 2022-23. Two new trees down on the State Park side are minor and easily passed, and the two large ones remaining uncut from several years ago also have easy workarounds.
The Caramba Trail from near Reeds Meadow through Laws Camp and on to Caramba, and the Cedar Trail from Willow Creek Trail to Laws, are euphemistically (and arguably dangerously) described by the Forest Service as “not maintained”. In reality both trails have been abandoned for more than a decade and no longer exist. They are so heavily overgrown, largely with dense whitethorn which obscures dozens of downed trees, that hikers should not attempt to follow them (regardless of how much you may trust any particular app).
An informal use trail to Laws is much more direct, generally well maintained, and avoids the bushwhacking of the abandoned trails (some local Idyllwild hikers dubbed it the “King Trail” when I established the route in 2019). It leaves Willow Creek Trail exactly 1.0 mile from Saddle Junction, 0.46 mile from the Skunk Cabbage turning (trailhead at N 33.7796, W 116.6590). The route descends following former deer trails for 1.2 miles, meeting Willow Creek about 0.15 mile upstream from the site of the historic Laws Camp (the remains of which were destroyed by the 2013 Mountain Fire and subsequent flood and treefall damage). One huge pine tree fell in late 2024 across the King Trail about midway down that requires a minor scramble underneath, but nine additional blowdowns have been removed since January 2025, with the trail already trimmed and cleared twice this year.
From Laws east to Caramba the original Caramba Trail has been cairned by myself and others and can largely be followed with skilled route-finding. My most recent 2025 survey counted 120 trees down on this 2.1 miles of trail. It is extremely obscure for the first 0.5 mile east of the Willow Creek crossing, becoming more obvious (but still subtle) as it descends towards Caramba. Very cautious navigation is strongly recommended throughout the area.
Storms in February-March brought down another 34 trees across Spitler Peak Trail. All but one were removed in March by the Trail Report, bringing to 162 the total number of trees we have removed from this route in the past seven years. One very large burned cedar remains across the trail immediately after the first creek crossing 3.2 miles up from the trailhead. A couple of other recent blowdowns are small and easily stepped over.
The Zen Center Trail continues its serious deterioration that started following the 2013 Mountain Fire, with a combination of vigorous regrowth and treefall hazards further obscuring the route with each passing season. The lower and upper thirds of this trail are partially cairned and not too bad for those who are very familiar with the former route, but even the experienced find navigating the central section tricky. Long trousers, scrambling gloves, and a genuine enjoyment of bush-whacking are all strongly recommended.
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