It all started with a simple text… where are we hiking this weekend???? and all of sudden we were gathered in a dark, cold morning Manker CG.

It’s been a while that I haven’t summitted any of the original 6pop. This year will be a great opportunity to hopefully attempt completing all of them.

For sometime, I always wonder how miserable it will be for me to try and hike from Baldy bowl. I always summitted via Devil’s backbone for a few times I climbed. Today, I harnessed all the strength and said yes to do Baldy bowl out and back LOL.

Knowing the difficulty of the hike, we started off early in the morning. It was a fun start and as we ascent, the glorious sunrise was upon us. The breathtaking views were an excellent excuse for our weary legs even if it was just a mile or so from the TH????????. Long snack breaks along with the pictureque sorrounding was  welcomed with open arms.

I’ve been back to hiking lately but nothing above 7000ft so elevation didn’t help to hike a little fast.

This was, by far, the longest time I completed the hike given the mileage. Hiking back down with all the precarious scree didn’t help either with the time on the trail. This hike was also a record breaking in terms of number of falls and slipping within my group fortunately noone was seriously hurt.

Even if  it’s difficult, i never said that I will not coming back or won’t hike it again because of the physical pain I endure while hiking. Probably the allure of it’s panoramic views, prominence of the peak, the personal challenge that it can be done or something else, I always comes back???? This always brings smile everytime I see Baldy from the freeway.

Next time I’ll try the loop from the bowl to Devil’s backbone. Now… we faced  reality and headed to the closest diner for a well- deserved meal????