On April 27th, 2014 Lindsay, Kate and myself set off to climb Martinez Mountain. We drove up the 74 and parked the truck near an old mine. We started about 8 am, and the hike lasted almost 12 hours. All of us are in great shape but this turned out to be a brutal day hike. Starting point is located up the 74. Make a left on the dirt road right after the sugarloaf café. Then after the cactus spring trailhead sign, drive down and to the left to get the closest start. Exact location: Latitude: 33.5767109413 Longitude: –116.4422111493 The elevation was 3922 ft The hike starts off descending and you go cross a small stream about a half mile in. At 1.7 miles in and 3400 ft, we crossed Horse Thief Creek, which surprisingly had a good amount of water flowing. No water after that. After 1 mile of good grade it leveled out and we followed a wide wash, making out way to the mountain. We met another hiker who knew the area well and told us where the trail we needed connected to the wash. At 4.97 miles from our start, we took the trail to the right and headed to the saddle just west of Martinez Mountain. It could easily be missed without keeping an eye out. 1.35 miles after leaving the wash, we made it to the saddle and stopped for lunch. We could see Jacinto, Santa Rosa Mountain, and the south side of the Martinez. From here, there is NOTRAIL to the top. Making out way up the ridge was a scramble. It was a lot of work, and there are large boulders and overgrown bushes. Its steep and you will need to be in great shape. At 7.64 miles from the start, and 6543 ft up, we summited! The summit is a group of large boulders and you will need to be able to lift your own bodyweight to get up. We found the summit sign in ammo box, which only had about 100 signatures in the last ten years. On our way down we decided to go a more direct way down, which was very steep and slow moving. Our knees really took a beating jumping down rock to rock. We then got back on the trail in the wash and headed back to the start. In total, we hike 14.8 miles. We had a great time and want to explore this area more!
