Cool Afternoon at Hot Springs

This was an all afternoon hike that lasted until sunset. I arrived at the parking lot at around 12:00 noon but by around 12:15 I was heading uphill on Sukat Road.  The trail all the way to the lookout tower was practically a fire road. Due to this being November it wasn’t hot. I met a few hikers heading down and one vehicle where Sukat Road meets Hot Springs Road. I made it to the lookout around 2:15 pm and I took a few photos before heading towards the summit through the vegetation. Fortunately the route was marked by ribbons already tied to branches and in a few minutes I made it to the summit register below the summit rock and block. I signed the register and took a few photos before going up the ladder and ropes. For the climb, I left my pack by the register but took my camera equipment which made the climb more difficult than it should have been. Still I made it to the summit block and found the two survey markers. I took photos of them as well as the obligatory summit photos. I located the third survey marker but due to time constraints and the need to head down and climb again, I gave up deciding to take a close up photo with that marker. But I did take a quick survey of the rock to see where I could climb to it on a future hike. At around 3:30 I started my hike back. This one was partly hiking, partly trail running. But I made it to the parking lot shortly after sunset around 5:10 PM. In a few minutes I had changed my hiking boots for my regular shoes and all equipment was in my vehicle and I drove out. The reservation requires visitors not camping with an overnight permit to leave by  6:00 pm and by 5:20 pm I was driving out the gate of Los Coyotes Reservation and headed to Temecula for the early evening.