Upon arriving at the trailhead, we heard that a mountain lion had been spotted on the trail just two days earlier.  There are always quite a lot of mountain lion tracks on this trail, so we were thinking that maybe this would be our day to spot one.  We saw plenty of tracks, and a small cave near the peak, but no sighting.  The weather was absolutely perfect today for this hike.  It was nice and cool for that long 2 mile uphill.  No snow once we reached the trees; I guess we haven't had enough rain and cold nights.  The skies were blue, so the views were amazing.  We could see San Jacinto in the distance with its snow covered cap.  And we were able to see the Salton Sea as we were coming down.  We took a different trail coming down (when we were about a mile from the cars).  This is a beautiful trail which takes you through the trees and down by the creek.  It is a nice change from the wide, exposed fire road.