Me and my daughter aged 13 decided to hike Mt. Baldy on July 4th as a training hike for our Mt. Whitney climb in mid August. Having done the hike before we knew it was going to be challenging, especially on a hot day with our heavy backpacks. By the time we arrived at the parking area around 8.00 in the morning we knew we had a lot of company as there were cars packed on either side of the road. We slowly made our way up via the Baldy Bowl trail to the Ski Hut, where we took a break to rest, snack and take in the views. The next section to the summit was the hardest, as the sun was beating down on us. The steep grade made it for an extremely challenging climb. By noon however we made it to the top. The summit was buzzing with hikers, enjoying the views and feeling proud of their accomplishment. As we were enjoying the views from the summit, we were surprised by a group who handed us the lyrics to “America the Beautiful” and asked us to join in the sing-along to celebrate the 4th. That truly was the highlight of the hike as we felt proud of our nation and the freedom we enjoy. After finishing our lunch and having taken in the views we starting our hike down which turned out to be more challenging. The heat, bad shoes and running out of water added to the misery. Slowly and steadily we made our way down and reached our car around 5.00. Though it was a tough hike we were proud of our accomplishment and it also gave us the confidence to hike more challenging trails before our climb of Whitney.