Best decision I've made in the last week? Join the JPL/CalTech “Alpine Club” newsletter! Having a car means that I'm suddenly the most popular ride to the mountains for these hiking-friendly scientists. I took a group of us to San Gorgonio this past Saturday and along the way, learned all sorts of fun facts about glacial masses and earthquakes (geoscientists rule!).

The trail itself was fun, but just as fun? The $8 pancake breakfast hosted by the San Gorgonio Search and Rescue team, who happily served us at 7:00 am, mere minutes before we headed up the Vivian Creek trail (thanks SGSAR!!). If you're wanting to do the same, they host these pancake breakfasts at 7:00 am on the first Saturday morning of every month! Best pre-hike breakfast I've ever had (blueberry pancakes FTW).

Perfect conditions – bright, clear, no cloud in the sky, not too hot – and we got on the trail at 7:40 or so, and I summited at 1:30 pm (I was the slowest in our group; proud turtle hiker!). We came down and were off the trail at 6:00 or 6:30 pm (I don't remember as that's the *longest* descent ever!).

Given that my last ascent of San G – in June 2014, oof – took me 13 hours, I was grateful to finish this in 11. I may try this one more time, from a different trailhead, as it's exceptional training for Whitney!

One more thing: there was a large, unattended bag of trash at the summit. I took it down, but really: if you see trash, pack it out. Given how polite all the hikers were on this excellent trail – good trail etiquette – the bag of trash surprised me. Let's all do our part.

And try to time your hike around that pancake breakfast. Yum!