Never to hike again…This has been my mantra since the inception of SD challenge every time I’m hiking this trail. I didn’t plan at all to register for SD because of ECM even if I already hiked a couple trails early this year.

A few weeks ago, there was a special promo for SD and of course I ended up signing. The good news is that there are seven in the list that really motivated me that I can finish them with no regret😂.

To make the story short, I hiked ECM in one of the hottest day I think. It was forecasted to be in the 80s and I told myself if i just started really early, it shouldn’t be that bad plus 2hr drive to TH should be fine. It was in the 90s 😩. Although I was at the peak a little after 9, I took my time to go back and that was a mistake. The blistering heat was brutal and felt like the uphills back to parking seemed formidable. Hikers were very few, not even over 20, if i can even manage to count. Quite understandable why😁

As I’m fully aware of the tough hike and weather situation, I brought my umbrella and a couple frozen  1L water bottle that helped a lot as my water still very cold until the end of hike.

What’s really nice about the organization maintaining the trail, they set up 2 stations for drinking water, one halfway, near the stop sign and the other one about 1.5mi to the parking lot.

If it can be helped, hike this trail if over cast or start very early and target to finish before noon.

In as much as I hate this one, the challenges that this trail brings, makes it more alluring.
At this point, I’m not hiking this again.