Hot Mess Express to the Mt. Wilson

This was my friends and I’s first peak out of the 6 for the challenge. We started out at 5:45am and it was about 46* degrees. Parking on the street was filling up fast. Great group of people getting ready to hike. One hiker came over and told us ‘you better turn your wheels, otherwise it’s a $45 ticket’! So that was a great start to the hike.
sun came out soon after we started so it started to heat up. Trail was well marked up until you get above the first set of towers and the trail meets up with the toll road – make sure you don’t continue on the road you need to look to the right for the trailhead and follow that as it parallels the road for a bit then breaks off and leads you to the summit. Paused at the summit for about 45 minutes then it was back down the hill. Temperature got up to 83* by the time we ended.
Took us 7.5 hours and it was 15 miles. We ended with HUGE feeling of accomplishment!
But today we are all so sore and all are walking like newborn giraffes! But it was a great experience and can’t wait to bag the next peak!