Had a late morning start to my 6th and final peak of the challenge. Parking was plentiful in this December weekend morning at the San Juan Loop/Bear Canyon Trail parking lot. After running back real quick to put my parking pass on my rear view mirror, I headed over to the Bear Canyon Trailhead across Ortega Highway.

I knew it was going to be a more relaxed hike compared to the others in the challenge. According to the map, the worse part of the climb was going to be in the last 4/10ths of a 5 mile climb. The altitude was also much closer to sea level, so there would be no altitude sickness to contend with today.

Things started off pretty casually. There was some climbing, but nothing strenuous. I did have to hop over some horse poop in the beginning, which was the most challenging thing the trail had in store for the beginning part. After a short while, I was overseeing the parking lot where I parked. Unfortunately, that was the closest thing to an “epic” view from a hike for several miles. Pretty soon I was amongst rolling hills in all directions, so really all I saw were tall shrubs, trees, and rolling hills. It was still nice to be in nature, of course, but there was a lack of awe-inspiring views from “above”.

I made my way through a mostly very well-maintained trail and just enjoyed being in nature. When I reached Four Corners, I finally could see some views of mountains afar. I didn't want to stray too far from my hike to enjoy the view, so I pressed on. Thankfully there were still other nice views to be had from this point on, so I continued my gradual rolling climb.

Close to the final half mile of the climb, I found a “tub” (a horse water trough, I later found out) and some helicopter wreckage. I investigated them for a couple of minutes, wondering what they were and how they got there.  I just made a mental note to look this up on Google later before pressing on.

The last .36 miles of the climb were much more challenging. It started off with some loose dirt path that must have been at 30% grade. It reminded me of “Register Ridge” at Mount Baldy, and lamented not bringing my microspikes. Thankfully that only lasted maybe .15 miles before it flattened out again for a short reprieve.

I could not rejoice for long, as right after that short flat bit was where the trail got sketchy. The “trail” was basically like a path water carved down the mountain. As nothing aeound me looked better, I decided it must be the way up. While I didn't have to do any boudering, but I did have to get on all fours repeatedly to actually climb it like playground equipment. It wasn't that hard,, but yiu had to get down and dirty (literallt) to get the job done.

I nervously checked my GaiaGPS perodically to make sure I didn't stray off too far, but the GPS error was just big enough that I still had to make some executive decisions on if I'm still on the trail. I didn't think I could get that lost since I was pretty close to my destination and I'd soon find out if I did go the wrong way.

Finally, towards the top, I found something that definitely looked more like a trail. I dusted off my hands and knees before reaching the ridge i hopes lead to Sitton Peak. There I found two other hikers that assured me I was not far away, so that was good.

I enjoyed the view of the surrounding mountains (finally! A “summit” view!) and made my way towards where the other hikers pointed me to. There I found the last rock formation leading to the top of Sitton Peak.

I was the only one there, which was good since the actual “peak” area was quite small! I set up a small tripod to take some photos, ate a snack, and enjoyed the view for a bit before I descended.

Going down that dicey .36 miles was slow goings. Even though now I could clearly see the trail I wanted to eventually get to, I didn't want to slip and fall in the steep and sketchy trail, so I took it slow. Once I got past that, things were easy going again. I even took a slightly alternative route to hop on Bear Ridge Trail to see some new views, but things weren't really that exciting there for me since I was shorter than most of the shrubs surrounding the trail, so I didn't see anything dramatically new and exciting.

It wasn't as beautiful or exciting as the other climbs, and it felt a lot easier since the temperature was mild and altitude low, but it was still a nice day out to explore a trail closer to “home base”.