Climate change is making California's hardest hike even worse

One of California’s most dangerous hikes starts in Palm Springs, in the corner of the parking lot for the city’s art museum and just steps away from all the major attractions of the downtown tourism destination.

As hikers begin the grueling climb from the trailhead, they look down on the 36,000-pound statue of Marilyn Monroe, the palm trees lining Palm Canyon Drive and the throngs of tourists crowding under misters on hot days. Elevation at the trailhead is just 487 feet above sea level, but after hours and hours of forging uphill, successful hikers will eventually reach Mount San Jacinto, elevation 10,831 feet. 

The Cactus to Clouds trail, aptly named for its long trek from the desert floor to Riverside County’s tallest peak, is often listed as one of California’s toughest and most dangerous hikes. Backpacker Magazine considers it to be among the most difficult day hikes in the country.

“It’s ranked one of the hardest trails in America, and it definitely deserves that ranking,” said Eric Holden, vice president of Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit, a volunteer search and rescue team that often responds to calls for help from Cactus to Clouds hikers.The volunteer Palm Springs Mounted Police Search and Rescue team also responds to calls on the desert side of the trail, with an average cost of $2,000 per rescue (funded mostly through donations).  

Cactus to Clouds takes serious effort, and — as is often the case with desert hikes — even well-seasoned hikers occasionally underestimate the intensity. Completing the trek requires a 21-mile hike with over 10,000 feet of elevation gain, and also requires careful scheduling considerations. The desert portion of the trail can reach triple-digit temperatures for much of the year, but the upper forested portion can include treacherous conditions with snow and ice. If you attempt the hike too early in the spring to avoid high temperatures, you could end up grappling with icy conditions at higher elevations. But going in the summer after the snow and ice have thawed means scorching temperatures at the start. 

Most years, that leaves only a narrow slice of the calendar, only a few weeks long, when ideal conditions align for the hike. And that window is getting even shorter. 

Hiking blogs often recommend late spring (when snow has melted but desert temperatures haven’t skyrocketed yet) or early fall (as temperatures cool again, but before the first major snow hits) as the only two times of year when attempting the hike is considered safe (and still, the trail is only recommended for highly experienced hikers). 

Holden, meanwhile, recommends primarily hiking in fall before snowfall hits the mountains as the only “ideal time” to attempt the trail. That timing guarantees a snow-free hike, while attempting in the spring months means there could still be snow on the ground at higher elevations. When there’s snow on the ground, some hikers need help after missing a crucial right turn that leads them into Mount San Jacinto State Park. Instead, they can end up stuck in a section that becomes “impassable,” Holden said.

And hikers should start early, hours before sunrise, to clear the desert climb before the hottest parts of the day. After reaching Mount San Jacinto around mile marker 14, most hikers then descend about 6 miles to the mountain station of the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, and ride the tram back down to the desert floor. Some expert hikers attempt Cactus to Clouds to Cactus, which skips the tram option and descends the full route back down the way they came, a nearly 30-mile total journey. 

Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit often gets called out after hikers start climbing up the trail, realize it’s too difficult to continue and start descending back down the desert hillsides instead of climbing toward the cooler mountain elevations. “When they left the desert [that morning], it might have been 60 degrees, but now when they’re heading back down, it’s in the hundreds, and it can easily be 120, 130 at ground level after the sun’s been baking the dirt for a long time,” Holden said. 

And temperatures in Palm Springs are only getting hotter, further tightening the window of when weather conditions align for the Cactus to Clouds hike. Scorching triple-digit heat is now lingering well into October, and the city’s hottest June to September periods on record have all occurred over the past decade. Last year, the city set a new record for the most days at or above 110 degrees: 83 days, or nearly a quarter of the year. Climate change is driving up daily maximum temperatures, which are projected to increase by between 8 and 14 degrees by the end of this century. 

As temperatures climb, more people than ever are attempting the Cactus to Clouds trail. Ridership data shared with SFGATE by the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway shows an increase in riders purchasing one-way tickets, suggesting more people are hiking up and only using the tram on their way down. In 2018, the tramway sold 1,123 one-way tickets; last year, that figure was 1,794.

A decade ago, Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit might respond to one or two calls a year on the trail, said Holden. Now that number is closer to three to five, and typically “every year we have a fatality on the trail,” usually a heat-related death. 

When conditions are particularly dangerous (either from snow or the heat) Mount San Jacinto State Park closes the trail. Last year, the state park closed the trail due to snow and ice conditions on Feb. 21, and reopened it on May 7 once conditions improved. But by then, temperatures were already rising in the desert. The state park closed the trail again in July after “multiple rescue operations for hikers suffering from heat exhaustion and dehydration,” the park said in a news release at the time. The trail didn’t reopen until early November, leaving a smaller window until snow blanketed the upper portion of the route. This year, the trail closed in early March due to heavy snow and ice, and reopened in April. 

California State Parks “respectfully declined” to be interviewed or to respond to questions about the Cactus to Clouds route, and about how the agency decides when to close the trail. 

“More and more and more people want to do it, and it’s a big challenge, but unfortunately, we have people that read about it and decide that they can do it at any point in time that they want to,” Holden said. “And if it’s done during the summer, that’s when the heat becomes deadly. If it’s done when there’s still snow on the ground, it can be almost impassable, unless you have really good snow skills and training.”

Holden says any potential Cactus to Clouds hiker should be extremely prepared, including carrying enough food and water to spend the night on the trail if needed: “This isn’t something that somebody that just hikes around a little bit should attempt.”