“Dad, my feet are frozen,” he said as he descended from the snow covered peak of Mount San Jacinto. His dad told him to just climb down a little more and get into the shelter to warm up. With the temperature in the 40’s and the winds gusting up to 60 miles per hour he said, “OK, but now I can’t feel my feet, dad” as he slipped and slid down the snow and ice covered slope.
Five minutes later he was inside the Mount San Jacinto Emergency Shelter, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930’s, which sits 500 feet below the 10,804 foot summit.
“Tennyson, take off your shoes and socks,” said his dad. “Lay down on one of the bunks and get in a sleeping bag to warm up.”
He did as he was told, and was soon thawed out inside one of the sleeping bags that stock the mountain top structure intended for stranded or injured hikers. He had been hiking the mountain for three days now and had finally completed the mission.
“You did it Tenny,” said his dad. “You just climbed the eleventh highest peak in California.”
Now let’s back up a few days to the beginning of the journey.
It’s Friday, May 27 when they head out from Humber Park in the small mountain town of Idyllwild and start up the trailhead and the dreaded Devils Slide. They plan to spend four days and three nights on the mountain with the ultimate goal of summiting Mount San Jacinto.
The thing that made this trip interesting was the youngest climber of the party, six year old Tennyson Smith. A first grader in Laguna Hills at Valencia Elementary, he wanted to be the youngest person to summit the highest peak in Riverside County, where he was born.
His dad, Dan Smith, had researched the climb and learned something interesting; many kids younger than six years old had reached the peak before, but they all seemed to have taken the Palm Springs Arial Tramway up to 8,400 feet to accomplish the task. Smith couldn’t find any details of a child under seven years old making the trip from the actual bottom of the trail in Idyllwild at 6,400 feet and backpacking the trip overnight.
Tennyson and his dad were accompanied on the trip by four other family friends. Tennyson’s small pack was full to capacity and weighed 13 pounds with his sleeping bag, sleeping pad, clothes, dishes and hydration bladder as they started their assent. The 13 pounds was a bit more than 25% of his body weight, comparable to his dad who was carrying 40 pounds on his 160 pound frame.
Friday, day one of the trip was a little over nine miles in the San Jacinto National Forest. The group took a long lunch break at Saddle Junction before heading down the Caramba Trail to see the waterfalls and then on to Laws Camp to pitch their tents for the night.
Saturday started out with spotting a few deer in camp during breakfast. “That was really cool that they were so close,” said Tennyson.
After a few miles on the trail the group left National Forest land and entered the Mount San Jacinto State Park. They walked thru the Hidden Divide Natural Preserve and then on to the Tramway Station where they had lunch. “It was way better than dad’s camping food,” said Tennyson. “We don’t usually get to have restaurant food in the woods.”
After the brief stop in civilization the group started hiking again for their final destination of the day and staging area for the summit, Tamarack Valley. Instead of taking the longer and more established route to get there through Round Valley, they took the little known Sid Davis Trail. It shaved about two miles of hiking by going straight up and over a ridge instead of the long way around. Although faster, the route took a toll on every member of the team except Tennyson, who led the ascent on that portion of the day’s hikes, which ended up totaling a little over six miles.
“I wasn’t tired, dad,” he said. “Climbing straight up was a lot more fun than the boring hiking on switchbacks.”
In camp that evening the winds started to pick up and by dark were gusting up to 40 miles per hour. The winds kept up all night long and nobody got much sleep. The first night Tennyson had wanted to be independent and had slept in his own two man tent with one of the family friends along on the trip who was a teenage boy. But, when the winds picked up he wanted no part of independence and headed straight for his dad’s very light and very small two man tent and crammed his way in.
His rational was simple. “Three people breathing in a two man tent will keep us warmer,” he said.
When dawn finally came on Sunday, the group packed up their day packs and hit the trail for the summit. Along the way they had to navigate thru snow and ice when the trail was completely covered. A little over four hours later they had climbed nearly four miles and were nearing their goal. The snow that high up was still deep and Tennyson stepped in snow up to his waist more than once.
At the peak, the wind was strong enough to blow a person off the rocks if they didn’t stay focused on their balance. It was also making the summit that much more cold and unfriendly. Exhausted and cold, everyone posed for pictures as quickly as possible before racing back to the shelter.
“I did it dad,” he said, curled up in the sleeping bag in the shelter and eating a Granola bar. “Am I the youngest ever?”
“I think so,” he dad responded. “But even if it turns out you’re not, you should be proud of what you just did.”
Tennyson, also a Cub Scout, was working on completing his Leave No Trace outdoors badge so before leaving the peak the group packed up trash and debris that had been left in the shelter to help leave it cleaner than they found it.
“It made it a lot nicer inside,” said Tennyson. “Why do people leave their trash?”
After the trip back to camp, which was much easier and much faster thanks to less wind, less altitude and warmer temperatures, the group logged another eight miles into their journal. The temperature dropped into the 20’s that night, but the winds had vanished and sleep came easier for everyone.
Tennyson stuck by his theory of breathing warmth and curled up in dad’s tent again for the last night of the trip.
On Monday, Memorial Day, Mother Nature started to cooperate again and provided a crystal clear morning with no winds and rising temperatures. After a quick breakfast, the team started to make their way down the mountain, nine long miles back to Humber Park and their cars. The total mileage for the trip was just over 32 miles in four days.
“I think it’s quite an accomplishment for him,” said his dad. “That’s a long way for a little guy. It was a long way for the rest of us. I wasn’t sure he’d be able to do it. But he’s a grinder. He just puts his head down and goes. He’s so tough. I’m so proud of him.”
On the hike back to the cars, Tennyson started making plans for the next trip.
“What are we going to climb next, dad,” he asked. “And I think I need some better shoes and socks so my feet won’t get cold next time.”
Tennyson. See the deer in the background?
Basecamp in Tamarack Valley.
Tennyson, Dan and Mel at the summit of Mount San Jacinto, Riverside County's tallest peak and the 11th tallest in California. 
Dan and Mel in front of the Mount San Jacinto Emergency Shelter, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930’s.
Tennyson warming up in the Mount San Jacinto Emergency Shelter.
Cameron, Shawn, Erica, Melody, Dan and Tennyson after hiking in for lunch at the Palm Springs Arial Tramway.
Tennyson working his way up the last few hundred feet through the snow to reach the summit of Mount San Jacinto.
Tennyson getting ready to start the trip at the Devil's Slide Trailhead.
Tennyson decided to mark the trail along the way by making a rock cairn.
The survey monument at the top of Mount San Jacinto.STATS
Adventurers: Dan, Melody, Tennyson, Shawn, Erica, Cameron
When: May and June 2011
Location: Mount San Jacinto Wilderness
Duration: 4 Days, 3 Nights
Stay: Backpacking
Mileage: 32 miles on foot, 90 minute drive each way
Highlights: Summiting Mount San Jacinto, Lunch at Palm Springs Arial Tramway
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