This hike was a butt kicker, but great training for Whitney. The push to the final ridge line and the junction before the peak were brutal, but we made it and finished our second 6 pack!

We were not sure we’d summit because some dark clouds looked over the peak. We kept pushing as it looked like the clouds were moving away. At the top, we could see them dumping rain east of Big Bear. We didn’t stay at the top for long-on small rumble of Thunder was enough to get us moving back down quickly.

We did periodically run into a group of five guys. One was struggling and well behind his friends who summitted at the same time as us.  We overheard them discussing not having headlamps as we reached the top around 3:30. On the way back down, we saw the last guy making it to the peak. Soon he was behind us and didn’t look in great shape. He hiked right behind us and let us know he felt lost and that he knew his friends were ahead of him down the trail. He stayed with us for a while until he felt secure in where he was going. We got back well after dark and hope he made it back ok without a headlamp. Guy needs some new friends- with apparent altitude issues and no headlamp, not waiting for him was not the safest move.