Beautiful hike! The flowers were stunning today, all of the California lilacs were in bloom and they were beautiful. First 2.25 mi were tough, exposed and kind of steep uphill. After that it kind of evened out and there were some mild ups and downs. The lookout tower at the top was really cool and there was a small saddle with a picnic table – views were great from the saddle. I was hiking alone but met 2 other people on the way up to the top and the 3 of us befriended 2 other girls at the lookout tower and the 5 of us headed to the summit together. The ladder and rope to the very top definitely looked a bit sketchy and as someone who is scared of heights and does not enjoy rock climbing I was pretty hesitant and decided not to go up even though I didn't really want to. The other people were a bit nervous too but all 4 made it up and they encouraged me to face the challenge and join them up there! If I can do it, you can do it too 🙂 Glad I had the moral support to get up there and pushed myself to do it because the views were amazing. However even without the little bouldering at the end, the hike would have been great, the views and the lookout tower were awesome. Plus bagged the highest point in SD County!