Cadillac/Joplin trails to Santiago Peak are advertised as HARD, and going up it was a tough incline… but the hardest part was the bugs.  We BOOKED it through the cover just to get out of it, barely stopping for water, fully covered.  It was BAD.  But, because of our hustle we made it to the peak in just over 4 hours.  Pretty good for nearly 5,000ft of elevation gain in under 8mi.  We stayed away from the official peak, as it is still in the fire zone, but we went as close as we could get (about 0.1mi out) and celebrated out 12th peak with a glass of champagne!  On the descent, we tried to get back through the bugs quick, but the steep decline made it nearly impossible to move fast.  Our descent was longer than our ascent… and there were plenty of slip and falls.  To summarize, we will never do this trail again due to the bugs, but we loved the challenge of the ascent and killed it.