Remember John Donovan - the PCT hiker lost on San Jacinto?

OK. Now I have gone down the rabbit hole thanks to Franco posting that incredible report.

The Backpacker story notes that he was last seen by other hikers near Saddle Junction, a trail intersection that leads hikers down into Idyllwild on the west slope of San Jacinto:

"Traveling about 3 miles northeast from the Saddle Junction area that night, he traversed skinny Willow Creek, then climbed a small ridge and plunged down into a steep gash called Hidden Valley. As he dipped into lower, heartier climate zones, the brush became nasty and thick, the talus rife with scrub oak and manzanita.

Donovan’s journal places him in Long Valley, at about 4,300 feet, the night of May 3. On May 5, still camped in the same ravine, he took a fall. How badly he was hurt is unclear; Donovan didn’t elaborate. But clearly the ordeal of the past few days had landed him in trouble. He wrote that he had already become too weak to climb up out of the canyon."


I scraped a screen shot of the Google map satellite view for the area, which thankfully lists the tramway, the desert view overlook (where the young couple wandered off trail), and Long Valley. This view shows most of the route from the Desert View area into the upper part of Long Valley, where Donovan almost certainly descended. Note the faint outline of some of the trails in broad bowl where the tram terminates on the east side.

The scale on this map suggests that the tram station was only about 1 mile due north from the point where Donovan likely entered Long Valley.

One. Mile.

Donovan likely followed Long Valley down as it arced east toward the valley and Palm Springs. Right near the yellow area, a second drainage joins Long Valley. The elevation here is about 5,000 ft. Note that Donovan was found at about 4,400.




the next topo image shows the remainder of Donovan's assumed route to about 4,400 ft. He probably reached the falls area about a 1/4 mile west of Hidden Fork. It was here where he reached the canyon impasse, and apparently fell and injured himself.



The young couple that found Donovan's camp started their trip on Saturday May 6, 2006. They spent 2 nights in the woods before being rescued. My memory is fuzzy, but I think we had taken the tram up on Sunday, May 7, or possibly Monday May 8. All I can remember is hiking not too far from the tram, and seeing a rescue chopper buzzing around in the direction of Long Valley.