Our second peak of the 6 pack! My dad tagged along with us this time. We started at the Palms Spring Aerial Tram, riding up on one of the first trips of the day. Whoa! That elevation change certainly did a number on me! I developed a tolerable, throbbing headache and nausea shortly after reaching the top, but we still took some time to explore, read all the placards, and snap some photos before finding our trail head near the Long Valley ranger station. The forest was picture perfect and beautiful as we made our way toward Round Valley Campground. My headache worsened and the nausea persisted, but we made steady progress and took a few short breaks along the way. The kids scoped out the campground with their grandpa and settled on Buckthorn. It was perfect! No mosquitos. Beautiful boulders and trees, and plenty of room for our tents. Plus it had a nice, big “kitchen rock”! Unfortunately, I was feeling pretty miserable by this time, and as soon as my dad pitched his tent, I crawled inside, curled up on the floor, and put my sweatshirt over my face before conking out.

Less than an hour later, I woke feeling a million times better! I was pretty much back to normal! The kids gave me a tour of our immediate area and we had a nice afternoon in camp chatting, playing Yahtzee, and enjoying the outdoors. This time our youngest son brought his harmonica and treated us to several campfire songs! We even roasted (sometimes burned!) marshmallows with the jet boil!

My dad got up first the next morning and made us breakfast. I helped get the kids ready for the summit hike, checked the map, made some mental notes, gave the general directions to my husband, and then my dad said, “Hey, there's a different trail on my Garmin. It looks like about the same distance to the summit. Want to try it?” Thinking it might be less traveled, we decided to give it a go. (So much for my plans!) At first it appeared like an animal trail, then met up with an older trail through the woods up the mountain, then faded in and out for a while, before disappearing all together!! For a while, we could see or scout out trail markers and quickly pick up the lost trail, but for several bits, we spent a good chunk of time trying to find the trail despite having the Garmin. We eventually found it and had lunch at the end of a beautifully scenic switch back near some very craggily, rocky peaks before meandering up the trail and losing it in the forest again. Then we saw some hikers! Just beyond a group of boulders, our trail met with the main trail, about a mile down from the summit. What an adventure!

The trail became pretty exposed after that, and the sun was HOT! The kids took off and practically ran up the mountain with their dad shortly behind them, but my dad and I took our time and chatted as we climbed. We took a snack break, and then made the last 1/4 mile to the stone cabin. It was a cool, dark, nice break from the  sun, and we signed their log book. The kids waited for everyone before we all climbed the rock scramble to the summit together! Success! We took a bunch of pictures, rested, enjoyed the view, and snacked again before starting to journey back to camp. We stayed on the main trail this time, and made good time. We saw some deer a couple of times throughout the day, and overall had a fantastic time.

We stayed another night in camp before packing up and heading back to the tram. We took the Long Valley Loop trail, which had some really lovely views and pretty forested areas – definitely recommend. I asked at the ranger station about the name of the trail we took from Round Valley, and he said they call it the Ranger Route! Grandpa bought the kids some French fries and cold drinks at the deli while we waited for our tram to the bottom of the mountain. The ride down was easy and pain free! We said our goodbye's at the cars and headed our separate ways home. 2 down, 4 to go!