Cadillac to Joplin
Just like the others said this is not your average OC hike and don’t underestimate this route. It starts off very steep and rocky so my advice is to take it slow and stay hydrated. I attempted this two weeks ago and I took off to fast thinking “how hard can this be” (rookie misstate), by the time I made it about ½ mile from camp my knee was in pain and I was already getting tired. The trail gets really hot and is exposed so try to do on a cool and cloudy day.
We returned on Saturday 5/4 and took it slow for the first climb up and stayed hydrated. Camp is a few miles in and you can find more water there. We started at 8 am, summit at 1 pm, spent an hour or little less at the top and made it back to the car at 5 pm. After we left the parking lot in the morning we only saw 5 other hikers all day. There were two ladies hiking back from camp and on our way out we saw 3 people with a French Bulldog on their way to the peak. Other than a few mountain bikers we had the place to ourselves with no one at the summit.
From what I can tell this was not in the fire closure area but I believe the “parking lot” is actually on OCWP private property so if you park their don’t be surprised to come back and find a parking ticket or towed. We didn’t see CHP or Park Ranger so we couldn’t confirm any of this.
In my opinion of all the 12 peak this was the second toughest after San G.
Enjoy and be safe.
Brandon
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