I met John from work, his wife Margaret, and their friend Scott in Chino around 6:00 AM. From there we drove up the 38, past Jenks Lake Road to the ranger station on the right hand side of the road, which is about 18 miles from Mill Creek Station. The guide we had said the station opens at 7:00 AM on weekends, but it doesn't open until 8:00. We waited until 8:00 and got our permit for dollar lake. We drove back to Jenks Lake Road and went about 3 miles, turning into the South Fork Trailhead parking lot on the left side of the road. We actually got started on the trail about 8:15 or so.

Here is a pciture of Scott, John, and Margaret (from left to right) after about 1 hour of hiking.

Here they are again at our highpoint around 9500 feet. This is where the trail splits and goes down 300 feet to Dollar lake. The trail up to this point is rather smooth and gradual compared to other hikes I have done. To get to this point is about 6 miles.

The trail is pretty well covered by Pine trees and is well shaded, which makes it hard to get scenic pictures. This is a picutre across the valley from the highpoint of the hike.

This is a picture from the same highpoint. The talus filled face is near the peak of San Gorgornio. Hopefully I will have pictures from there in a few weeks.

Finally we arrived at Dollar Lake. It was the lowest it had been in years. We ate lunch and sat around for a few minutes before heading out.

We made it back to the car with a round trip time of less than 6 hours which wasn't too bad. The guide book said it would take about 7 hours and that it was also a 4 star (difficulty rating, 5 being the most). The same book rates San Jacinto from the valley as a 5 star, so I give this a 2. It was still a nice hike and I still felt my lungs on the way up, but there weren't even any switch backs.

You can see more pictures and info about this and other hikes at John's website.