I absolutely loved this hike and everything about it!  I hiked with my daughter and cousin who don’t hike a lot.  Since my knee injury on San Bernardino Mountain two months ago, I wanted to take it slow and see how my knee would hold up and feel comfortable turning back if necessary as it isn’t completely healed yet.  For me, this hike was easy.  There’s not a lot of elevation gain as you start at 83oo feet.  We started early so had the whole day for our hike. The temperature was cold and in the twenties when we started.  We started with gloves, knit scarves and hats but soon we were warm and removing layers.

It was lovely to be under magnificent pines for most of our trek. The trail was easy to follow and in no time we were at the top of Mt. Pino.  We enjoyed the view there, snapped a few pictures, ate some snacks and were on our way. I enjoyed what I think were piñon jays munching seeds from the pines there. The altitude didn’t affect me as I had hiked longer and higher elevations until my injury but my cousin wasn’t use the the elevation so was slower. We made another stop in the shade next to some rocks about a half mile from Sawmill Mountain. More snacks were consumed and it gave my cousin  time to catch her breath while I checked out the rocks.

My daughter decided to go ahead and missed the turn as it isn’t well marked. I left my cousin at Sawmill and headed toward Grouse Peak to find her. Fortunately, since others weren’t going that way and she could hear voices from Sawmill she had turned around and waited. Once we were all at Sawmill, another hiker took our picture. We moved over away from the peak spot and enjoyed lunch nearby with the beautiful view. We took some pictures and enjoyed camaraderie. At about one, I suggested we head back. The closer we got to the parking area the cooler it got so gloves and scarves went back on.

We had a lovely hike a little farther north than the others I have done. My cousin was proud of her accomplishment and I finished peak number 5 of the challenge!