This hike was inspired by a random rock I once found on top of Mount Baden-Powell. It was atop a pile of similar rocks, stuffed into the hollow of a long-snapped tree trunk, and someone had scrawled “Five Peaks!” and a date on it in Sharpie. Hmm, what does *that* mean? Well, after looking at a map, I realized, yes, it *is* possible to hit five peaks in a day around Baden-Powell. In particular, if you head up the west side of the mountain on the PCT, you can divert from the trail to hit (in order) Mount Islip, Mount Hawkins, Throop Peak, Mount Burnham, and finally, Mount Baden-Powell itself. And that's–count 'em–five peaks!

For this hike, I hiked out from Islip Saddle the day before, up the PCT, and camped at Little Jimmy Campground. Luckily, Little Jimmy Spring was flowing, so there was plenty of water available. The next morning, I first headed west to go to the top of Mount Islip, then turned around and headed back to rejoin the PCT and head up the mountain. At each peak, there's a use trail leading off from the PCT to the top: I always took the western-side use trail to get to the top of the peak, then came down on the eastern-side use trail. The western-side use trails can be a bit steep, and may disappear every now and then, but there's only one way go to–up!–and they're usually pretty short, so the steepness isn't much of an issue. The eastern-side use trails are usually clearer, and often a bit less steep. But all the peaks are fun; Islip and Hawkins also have great views, as does Baden-Powell (of course!).

Finally, going up in October I met a couple of SOBO PCT hikers at the top of Baden-Powell! Was fun to listen to their stories and, for a moment, taste that thru-hiking feeling once again! They were heading into Wrightwood later that day to resupply, but I got to give them my supply of peanut M&Ms (the *best* M&Ms–ask any thru-hiker!) since one of them was running short of food (as any good thru-hiker will be on the day they're heading into town). Hike down was straight down the PCT, pretty uneventful but pretty beautiful too!