Just east of Irvine is the beautiful Saddleback mountain range that separates southern Los Angeles from the Inland Empire. Santiago Peak stands out in that range as the highest point. Just 20 miles from the coast, the summit, at 5,689 feet, is over a mile high.
We found a great trail and decided to give it a shot.
The trail starts
at the Holy Jim Trail head, which can be found down a well worn dirt road. It was a standard Southern California Hill Hike for the first portion. Most of the trail was along fire safety roads. The trail near the peak was a bit steeper.
For some reason cars are allowed all the way up there. It became clear that it isn't the safest road to drive along, as we witnessed a car flipped off the side of the road!
At the very peak it was a good number of degrees colder. With our shirts wet with sweat, it felt best to take them off. It was some amazing views being up in the clouds! We ate some PB&J around a bunch of telecommunication / radio towers before we decided to head back down. The round trip distance was about fifteen miles with a net elevation change is 4,469 feet. This hike took us the entire day, but it felt good once we were done.