Mt. San Jacinto
Source: Wikimedia Commons
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Southern California has three truly high mountain ranges — the San Gabriels, the San Bernardinos, and the San Jacintos — and each range has its signature peak.
Mount San Antonio — better known as Mt. Baldy — rules the San Gabriels, and on a clear day its big bare 10,064-foot summit can be seen from everywhere in Los Angeles.
Mount San Gorgonio’s rounded 11,499-foot massif looms over the San Bernardinos and is the highest mountain in Southern California.
But most impressive of all is Mount San Jacinto, whose breathtaking northeast wall rises 10,000 feet straight up off the desert floor. It’s one of the steepest rock faces on the continent, rivaling Mount Whitney for sheer drama, and everybody who drives to Palm Springs puts their passengers at risk when they take their eyes off the freeway to admire the mountain’s majesty. It’s impossible not to.