This was my first hike of the year — a little late, I know, especially because I'm using the Six Pack challenge to train for Whitney in mid-September so I'm cutting it close. But due to vacations and weddings and LOTS of sickness in my family the past two months, it's been impossible to hit the trails. I did the Six Pack last year and was able to dedicate to much more time to training that I was in fantastic shape. In fact, there was a STARK difference between my preparation levels during today's hike vs. my Cucamonga hike a year ago…. this trial kicked my butt! It took me about 7-7.5 hours to complete, several hours longer than I had planned for. Hopefully I get some of my last year's strength back.

I arrived at the trailhead just before 6:30 AM and parking was already backed up to almost a full half mile from the trailhead. So by the time I hit the actual trail, it was closer to 6:45 and the weather was really nice — not too warm or cool. Around 10 or 11 is when I noticed things warming up a bit, and by the time I got back to my car around 3:00 (or just before?) it was pretty toasty, hovering around 90. I dipped my head in the nearby creek to cool off, a favorite pastime of mine when I am hiking anywhere with running water available.

The highlight of this hike was almost literally bumping into a pair of bighorn sheep on my way down from the peak. I was solo hiking and not making much noise beyond my footsteps. I thought I caught something out of the corner of my eye further up the trail, but quickly decided it must have been a swarm of gnats, or maybe I was just getting tired. But within a minute, I found myself startling a pair of big horn sheep, who hopped on the trial in front of me not more than 20 feet away! Luckily they were more cautious than defensive, so before I could pull out my camera they put another 30 feet of space between us and got to work nibbling leaves as I snapped away.