Tips
Bring extra water and high energy snacks
The hill on the way back is no joke
Careful on jackass trail. Its covered in mountain lion tracks and may have one at the top (see below)
Bring binoculars for Sierra's view
Parking payment is located after first parking lots

About a week after doing this hike I was still sore. Admittedly, after getting comfortable eating and watching movies through the holidays, there was a holiday deconditioning that I failed to account for.

I arrived right as the sun rose over the eastern ridge and felt great being back on the trails. In my excitement I started quickly and arrived to middle ridge trail ahead of schedule. The middle ridge trail spur there was a great view of the rest of the hike and at that point I hadn't seen a single hiker. Perfect!

Crossing the stream and making my way uphill to Mt Sizer I was reminded of the cognitively taxing feeling of a never-ending steep slope. Embracing this feeling I enjoyed the challenge and was rewarded with the sun and ridges created a tapestry of bright greens highlights and black shadows. I didn't appreciate how clear the day was until I made it to the ridge. There I could clearly see the sun reflecting off the snow covered peaks in the Sierra's. It was truly amazing.

After a quick lunch I started running downhill making pretty good time again. Soon after I realized I missed the jackass trail spur. Shit! 500ft back up to follow the planned route. Finding my way back was easy enough but while on the jackass trail it was obvious that this was a well beaten mountain lion path. Tracks were clearly showing the route and you can tell by the depth of the prints that some areas required a bigger push. Singing my best version of the theme song from the animated robin hood, I continued forward surveying trees and the surrounding openings. A bald eagle didn't appreciate the tune and took off right in front of me. America! Right as I entered a tunnel of thick bushes, I heard a big animal on the other side. Fuck! Should I go look? I took one step back and heard the animal move in the opposite direction… I thought for a second and decided neither of us really wanted to be introduced. I can't tell you how many times I looked behind my shoulder as I made my way down the slope. Man was I happy to see the main trail!

The trail started getting to me though and I was tried and almost out of water. I found jackass hill and made my way up, and then remembered that I still needed to go up the middle ridge. Why did Succession and beer sound so good over the holidays?! The last 4 miles was a haul; My Honda fit never looked so good!

All that being said – I can't wait to go back!