I was packed up and walking by 8:20. But to find a way out of the wash took a while as I backtracked down wash until I found a suitable spot to get through the brush. Then started the climb up and out of the drainage towards the broad saddle between pt 3935 and the flat mountain that overlooked Smoky Creek and Mule Ears.
As I got higher I had a good view back down towards the South Rim, Sugarloaf , and the drainage that I camped in.

A little later I could see down into the canyon with the high pouroff and Santa Elena.

On the previous day's hike I was looking for a spot up high for a potential campsite before dropping down into the drainage but there were no potential spots. However, on the broad saddle dividing watershed going north towards Sugarloaf and south towards Smoky Spring there were some good spots with good views. Of course, how would I have known? But to get a view of Smoky Creek I needed to get to the top. At a point overlooking the drainage heading south, I dropped my pack before heading up to the top. Pretty easy walking, not too steep and I was soon up top but the summit was so big and broad I could not see below it until I hiked a ways further towards Mule Ears. Then finally I got a good view.

View Southeast, Smoky Spring is just out of view blocked by the summit on the left.

I took a few photos and then headed back to my pack, eager to see how difficult it would be to hike down to Smoky Spring.
Here is the view down that drainage.

It took me about 30 minutes to get to the little pointed rock outcrop that is in the above photo and the furthest down the wash spot you can see. I could not walk directly in the wash for more than a few feet, lots of rocks to climb around but more importantly, the brush was very thick. So I'd go down one side parallel to the wash and when I couldn't go any further I'd cross to the other side. So a tough slog.
Here is the next section after the rock outcrop. That far view is looking up the drainage above Smoky Spring towards Jack's Pass.

At this spot I planned to stay high and to the right as I knew that there was an easier way down from the flat spot at the lower right.
A few years ago I had climbed up from the Smoky Spring side and ascended to that spot. It entailed going into a brushy box canyon with a chimney like pouroff that could be climbed without a pack but would not be easy going down with a pack. But at the flat spot one could go around the front side of the mountain and descend from there.
Looking down at the Smoky Spring drainage in the direction of San Jacinto Spring. I would cross the ridge in the foreground to get into that drainage.

Once down in the wash I stopped for lunch. I didn't bother to check out Smoky Spring. If I had, I'm pretty sure I would have said, "water is running, low flow and shallow". After a short lunch I climbed out of the wash on the opposite side from where I got in. Then climbed the ridge dividing the Smoky Spring and San Jacinto Spring drainages.
Dropping into one of the upper arms of the drainage there is a pouroff with a shelter under the pouroff. We had come across it on a trip over 10 years ago.

The upper sections of the drainage are narrow and brushy but it soons opens up. The geology is different here. There is more crumbly rock and has a badland type look. I ran across some unmarked springs with damp soil and a little water. Eventually I came to a pouroff that can be skirted on the right. This pouroff is just above San Jacinto Spring.

To get around the pouroff I had to get into the wash directly to the west. Dropped down that wash and worked my way back over to below San Jacinto and come back up the wash to it.

But there is another pouroff below San Jacinto so I had to go back into the western drainage and continue down to where it joins the main San Jacinto drainage. Just before the junction this route runs into San Jacinto B. This spring is not on the map but had running water going down the wash a ways. The spring itself is very overgrown and hard to get to.
Water from San Jacinto B

Walking further down the wash I came to another pouroff. I went up and around on the right but it was a little tricky because of the loose crumbly soil so it took me a while to descend down the slope.
View from above the last pouroff

There was one last section through the black canyon in the photo above before hitting the drainage that I was to take up to Casita Springs. Soon after making the right turn there is a section of large boulders and water was coming down the wash. This was Boulder Tinaja.
Boulder Tinaja

Plenty of water through the boulder field on up to the second spring, Triangle Tinaja. This section does not photograph too well because they canyon walls are very narrow and there is a climb up. When entering this narrow spot there is a slight right turn, as I made the turn I startled a big hawk who must have come down for a drink, actually both of us were startled and he took off. Another thing I wanted to mention was that the floor of the canyon in this area had a lot of small rockfall and after exiting the canyon I heard some rocks tumbling down. That gave me a scare as well.
This view is from the top down.

After exiting the canyon there are two washes that meet at it's entrance. The one coming in from the left goes to Casita Spring and there is an unnamed spring just above the junction that had water in the wash. Then on up to Casita Spring where there was quite a bit of water in the wash.
Ruins at Casita Spring


At this point I was starting to feel hot and tired. I wasn't drinking enough so I took a break and after filling up some water bottles I headed on up the wash. It was 3:20 PM. Lance had come down this way on one of his trips and reported a pouroff that required some effort to get around going up wash. So after looking at Google Earth I noticed that there were two parallel ridgelines that were very flat on top. If I could find a way up to the top I could have an easy walk up to where I could drop back into the Smoky Spring drainage. So I walked on up to the pouroff, then back down to where Lance did his work around. I saw a route leading up to the ridge top with no apparent barriers and it was just a straight up the ridge climb, steepest sections near the top but not risky. Once on top I had some great views.
Looking back towards Casita Springs from the ridgetop, you can just see the tree near the ruins in middle left. Parallel ridge is to the right.

Walking on out to the end of the ridge, it was an easy drop into the Smoky Spring drainage.

Once in the wash it was easy walking. While the wash wasn't especially wide, it was very sandy and easy on the feet. There were only a couple of sections that I had to slow down for. I was hoping that there would be water at Santa Spring so I could rinse some of the sweat off so I was anxious to get there and didn't stop for any photos. But I was thinking that if someone wanted a short overnight trip, this would be a nice area to explore. I was down to the junction with Smoky Creek just above Santa Spring by 5:30. Water was running down the wash for some distance. Lots of water. 9.6 miles for the day. The trip was almost over.