Have you ever done something without thinking about it and got your ass beat for it? That's what happened to me by signing up for the 6peak challenge. El Cajon beat my ass, thighs, shins, calves, lower back, and abs. Screw it, lets throw in eyeballs (dust), throat (i inhaled something- poodledog bush), and toes (damn pebbles in my boots again).  Before I continue talking crap about this hike, I would like to do the following:

1) Shout out to my 2 stalkers, I mean followers. One who signed up for a 6 peak challenge and has yet do to a hike – happy bday lady. The other, a minor kid, kicking butt on those big socal peak hikes – you go kid, see you on the trails.

2) Inform you that I learned you can check  road closures, tire chain requirements, snow plow locations, etc etc by going to Caltrans quick maps. This is especially helpful during the snow season.

3) Inform you that you can access the cameras at some SoCal peak locations. High Point and Hot Springs included. I used them to check for snow and to see myself. Check them out at http://hpwren.ucsd.edu/

Now back to El Cajon Mountain hike. It was my final hike of the San Diego 6. It took me an extra month to do this due to reviews of cars getting broken into – I wasn't feelin it. If I wanted to finish the peak challenge I had to do this hike so I emptied my car. All I left would be theives was snap on hub caps and my car if they can drive stick. I arrived at 8am to park in the parking lot, it was closed. Fast forward 15 minutes and its still closed. So I shoved my car into a little spot accoss the street. Played frogger to get to the trail. I think I spent more time resting than I did hiking this trail. Got passed up by just about everyone. Almost got ran over by a bunch of runners while I was struggling going uphill, i mean upmountain. I drank all 3 liters of my water with a few gulps left by the time i got to my car. I was so tired on my way back (5 miles to go), I started to just plop myself in the middle of the trail instead of finding rocks to sit on to rest and drink water.

So for all you bigger not so in shape peeps like me. You can do this, its just going to take you all day – go early, bring water and snacks (i also brought Ibuprofen). If it helps, im 5'3″ 198 lbs. I weighed 192 when i got home, thats a lot of water loss, brain cells, and mabe a tiny bit o fat and some sanity.

Now to buy the next challenge- SoCal 6 peaks. Ive done some of them already (back when you used topo maps and a compass to get around), just need to see how much better ive gotten.

My car wasn't broken into. I got a charlie horse in my abs driving home – that sucks when your trying to shift gears.