After hearing about what a madhouse this place was on the weekends I decided to give it a shot on a Wednesday morning. I had planned on showing up around 6:30 am but after reading the reviews the night before I stopped by CVS and bought some bug spray.
It was overcast, but as I was rolling up the sun was doing this spectacular peep show behind the clouds. I pulled into the parking lot and there were only 3 cars parked. It was 7:30 am. I geared up and set off.
Very serene and easy going for the first few miles. I was tripping out on all the little houses everywhere. There were very few people on the trail. At Sturtevant Camp I hopped on the large swing for a few minutes. Just after leaving there the incline began to rise sharply and the bugs began to attack. After a couple miles I was so tired but I didn't want to stop because of the bugs. The stuff I bought worked pretty good though. No bites.
The foliage was so dense for most of the hike when a view finally did come I stopped for a few minutes to marvel at it. It was completely clear where I was but down below in L.A. the cloud cover was pretty thick. Still looked pretty awesome though. Made it to the top at 11 a.m. and walked around for half an hour. Checked out the museum and the telescopes. Asked another hiker where the trail was to go back down. I can't believe that isn't marked with a sign.
On the way back down I came across a family of deer. Awesome!!! It took me about 2 and a half hours to make it back down. My knees and feet were barking when I came to this bend in the path that overlooked the parking lot. I remember thinking “almost home” and I stepped and bzzzz…rattle snake!!! I jumped about 5 feet in the air and was able to avoid him. Made it to my car at 2 pm.
Very nice hike!!