Camping at the Los Coyotes Reservation opened back up on September 1st 2021 so we reserved a spot and headed towards the reservation. I was pretty curious how the campground would look as the last time I was out there (December 2020) the campground was closed, water was shutoff and the restrooms were locked. The gentleman at the guard shack allowed my son and I to drive through.

My hiking partner and I arrived at the Trailhead around 15:30 on Saturday October 16th. We setup camp and did a little exploring. Port-o-potties have been brought in and they were very clean and stocked with toilet paper. They also have hand washing stations available that are clean and stocked as well. A trash can is at each set of bathrooms and hand washing station also. The permanent restrooms are still closed for the time being. Although a hot shower would of been awesome. Hey were roughing it remember. Ha Ha! The temperature was warmer than I was expecting. Low 70's when we arrived dipping into the low 60's pretty quickly with an overnight low in the mid 40's. We both slept pretty warm. And I cannot believe how quiet it is out there. We slept great.

I woke up around 0300 on Sunday morning and rolled around until I really had to pee. I normally get up pretty early and we wanted to do some hiking utilizing our headlamps. We both made our way out of out tents around 0400 and got to the most important part of the day. COFFEE!!! We decided to have a couple cups of coffee, use the restroom and head up the trail.

We stepped foot on the trail at approx. 0530. My buddy had never been up the Hot Springs Mountain trail but I warned him about the first two miles. It can be a leg burner if your not prepared. Morning temps were cool but pretty comfortable. We layered a bit, threw some gloves on as the fingers were getting a bit cold. The trail is in pretty good shape. Not too rutted out with only a few areas with large loose cobble. The road looked like it had been graded recently. There is a large tree down across the trail in one location but it's quite easy to navigate around. The wind picked up as we reached the summit but we slid a picnic table behind the information sign to break the wind and made breakfast and coffee. It took us about 2 hours and 45 minutes to reach the summit. We took minimal breaks on the way up. Mainly stopping to shed some clothing as the morning sun came up over the mountains. We ate, explored, took some photos and began our descent down the mountain. I strongly recommend this hike for someone who regularly hikes or runs. I would not recommend the hike for a 1st hike or for smaller children. Although I did see one young girl, maybe 8 years old hiking up with her dad. Not sure how far they made but it was awesome to see her out giving it a try. Enjoy!

Stats:

Total Time: 05:32:43

Total Distance: 9.95 mi

Elevation Gain: 2101′

Elevation Loss: (-2079)

Average Speed: 1.8 MPH

Moving Speed: 2.5 MPH

Max Speed: 3.3 MPH

Pace: 33:27 min/mi

Moving Time: 03:59:54

Stopped Time: 01:32:48