We arrived at the trail head around 8am on Friday morning and started our trek up the mountain. We did this hike last year and decided we wanted to backpack it once again. It was a lot hotter out then it has been and I feel like that slowed us down a little. We schlepped our heavy packs to Limber Pine Bench campground where there was just one other camper. The creek by the campground was a mere trickle but enough for us to subsist through the trip. Anyone planning on using that as a water source in upcoming weeks be warned that it might be dry. We ditched our heavy load and made it to the summit! There was a group of college kids there and a drone which was really annoying so we took our pictures and then went to the look out bench for our celebratory beverage and to take in the beautiful scenery. We hiked back to our campsite and enjoyed the most magnificent sunset. The San Bernardino city lights were twinkling below and Venus was was twinkling above. It was a chilly night but the wind didn't pick up till after midnight so we sat outside and soaked up all the glorious stars. At one point I hear something and noticed a young buck (a deer not one of the college boys) hanging out by our camp. When I looked at it with my headlamp on it started walking towards me. It is strange to experience this as deer are usually so skittish around humans. We worried it would actually come into our camp! It was pretty entertaining to try to keep an eye on where it was without directly looking at it. Our red light setting didn't allow us to see far enough but when we looked at it with the regular light it would continue to approach us. Oh deer! 😉

Saturday morning was the best part of the whole trip. We made scrambled eggs and drank a bloody mary while enjoying one of the most incredible views. Hiking down the mountain we passed sooooo many people heading up to the summit. When we got to the parking lot we were dumbfounded at how packed it was! Saturday is a extremely hard day for hiking these peaks in my humble opinion. Some of the cars were parked along the road and were being ticketed as we drove past. We logged a total of 16.5 miles. We have one peak left. Watch out San Jacinto because here we come!