Started the hike early in the morning around 6:00am and the parking lot was already getting crowded. I have to admit I was a little bummed out first since it looked like we were about to hike with big groups of people. However, after the first mile or so we turned left up the Baldy Bowl trail towards the Ski Hut while everyone else seemed to continue straight ahead. Yay! Hiking mood reestablished! From here on Hector and I climbed up with pretty good pace and reached the Ski Hut in about an hour. Our views of the bowl became clearer and we started to realize that our initial plan of climbing up the bowl is not going to happen due to not enough snow. We kept pushing towards the peek and had to use our crampons for the last mile and a half. I'd say no crampons would've worked out as well but since we had them on us we used them to keep up our pace. We reached the peek in about 2 hours and 45 minutes and for the first 15 minutes we actually had the peek for just ourselves. The views were breathtaking! A mix between a thick layer of clouds and beautiful mountain peeks. The wind was very strong and freezing cold. We hid behind one of the stone walls and enjoyed some well deserved sandwiches. Is it just me or do sandwiches always taste much better on top of mountain peeks after a strenuous climb? After taking some pictures we started our way back towards the Devils Backbone Trail. On the way back the clouds started to clear up and we were able to enjoy different views and terrains. Overall an amazing experience.
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