I started the hike with temperature in the mid 30’s and was the first car in the parking lot.  It was cold for this Phoenician especially considering we had no transition from the heat this year. I had the trail all to myself the entire hike up which allowed me to enjoy the beautiful fall leaves in quiet peace until a little bit after the 2 mile point when I heard a loud animal noise and some rocks falling (I was near the Boulder slope) and I’m pretty sure it was a bear… which suddenly made me nervous about the solitude. ? I continued on and about a mile from the summit the temperature dropped significantly and I started to notice a little bit of ice/snow on the trail (it wasn’t enough to be concerned about) but very cool to see in this summer challenge. The wind was blowing on the summit and only made it more cold, so much so that my hands didn’t warm up for about a mile down from the summit. I saw my first human at around that point who shared he was the third car in the parking lot and he was combining some trails for a 16 mile day. At about a mile or so from the trailhead on the way down I heard a pack of howling coyotes which surprised me given that it was almost 11am. This was the first time I hiked Kendrick Peak (I have wanted to do so for many years) and it did not disappoint! ???