Exhausted Hikers C2C
October 25, 2025
Tramway Grubbs Notch
2025-035
Written by: Richard Yocum
The callout was just before 9 pm for 3 female hikers estimated to be 50-60 years of age near Round Valley below San Jacinto Peak. Two different hikers, unrelated to each other or the party of 3 hikers, both called 911 to report the 3 hikers as exhausted and stumbling with difficulty breathing, possible altitude sickness, and unlikely to make it back to the upper tram station. Rescue 9 flew overhead making PA announcements and saw multiple camps but no one appearing in distress.
At about 10 pm, Trygve was first to arrive at the lower tram station, followed shortly thereafter by Richard and then Matt. As we quickly sorted gear for the tram ride up, we were alerted that the 3 hikers had made it on their own back to the upper tram station and would have a ride down. Matt and I remai
ned at the lower tram station to assess the hikers. The other RMRU responders were told to stand down.
They had started their Cactus-to-Clouds hike at 11 pm the night before, not expecting that it would take them a full 24 hours. They saw the helicopter but did not realize it was searching for them. Only 1 of the hikers requested a medical assessment. Realizing they were running behind schedule, they were hurrying down the mountain to make the last tram when 1 of them tripped and fell, sustaining injuries to her face and knee. Her medical assessment revealed a shallow laceration above the eye and abrasion to the knee, but no other injuries or significant findings. It seemed from the information collected from all 3 hikers that the 1 hiker had been experiencing some acute mountain sickness, but her symptoms resolved by the time they arrived at the lower tram station. The hikers were released to the Deputy on scene, Matt and I departed for home at 1 am, looking forward to catching at least a few hours of sleep that night
.
This is yet another reminder that each year RMRU has several missions for hikers attempting Cactus-to-Clouds. Backpacker Magazine rates this hike one of the hardest day hikes in the world, ascending more than 10,000 feet to the summit of Mt. San Jacinto. Too often, hikers underestimate the strenuousness, time required, the heat of the desert, or appear to be surprised when they encounter steep snow and ice conditions at higher elevations, don’t realize that alpine weather often changes rapidly, or are ill-prepared in any number of ways.
RMRU Members Involved: (Trygve Anderson, Nathaniel Desforges, Matt Frenken, David Kosmal, Stephanie Robertson, and Richard Yocum)
Other Agencies Involved: (Riverside County Sheriff’s Aviation Rescue9 helicopter)