Well, this was a first. I've done a ton of hiking in Southern California and had never once done a hike where I saw no one else the entire time. On the East Coast it happens a fair amount, but hiking is so popular out west (and the mountains are so close to major cities) that you can generally count on seeing a good handful of other hikers even on weekdays. Not today, a Friday on Corte Madera, where I was the only car in the trailhead parking lot and I didn't see a single other hiker the whole time. That might be because it was 95 degrees out. I'd actually driven most of the way to the trailhead the previous day only to realize that it was already too hot out to hike safely. So I turned back to where I'm staying in Encinitas, stopped by the Columbia employee store in Carlsbad and picked up a bigger backpack that could hold more water (take advantage of the Six Pack challenger access if you can… the selection and discounts are AMAZING), and then that night I set an alarm for 5:30 AM so that I could be on the trail early.

So there were no other humans. I did, however, see fresh mountain lion tracks and scat. So I wasn't alone out there (and I was a little bit nervous about that).

Anyway! Corte Madera!

THE PROS
— Beautiful views! In addition to the summit, there are a couple of places along the way with gorgeous expansive views. The sky was super clear; I'm pretty sure this was the first hike I've done where I could see all the way to Mexico. The other two San Diego Six-Pack hikes I've done so far didn't have views over the border, to my knowledge.
— Most of the trail is not all that difficult, especially if you have poles for the steep sections. I brought my poles mostly because I figured I would wave them around if I encountered a mountain lion, but it turns out they were pretty helpful. There is only one true scramble on the trail, which you descend on your way up the mountain, and it is very short and not that hard.

THE CONS
— The trail was not super easy to follow. There are no blazes, and on the way back I got lost briefly in a few places (all of which were in the first half of the descent). It is very narrow in parts and there is some overgrowth that can be spiky and scratchy. If you do this hike, DEFINITELY use AllTrails to keep you on the right path.
— It was FREAKING HOT and the trail is mostly very exposed; the first and last 3/4 of a mile (since it's an out-and-back) have tree cover. I had a 2L water bladder, a large water bottle, and two cans of La Croix with me and drained them all.
— Like I said… mountain lions. There was some standing water near the saddle that's about halfway along the hike, and in the mud I saw what were very obviously fresh mountain lion prints, as well as fresh paw prints from a smaller mammal that may have been its kitten and some fresh scat that looked like something that would wind up in my cats' litter boxes, but I did not want to stick around too long to take pictures of it all (I've attached one pic of the bigger prints) because, well, big big kitties.

Tomorrow I should have a much easier time hiking the paved road up Cuyamaca (shorter haul, probably a lot more fellow hikers, and 20 degrees cooler!), getting in my planned 2 hikes before Hurricane Hilary ruins the rest of the weekend. Stay safe, SoCal!