Well the original plan was to hike Sitton from the trailhead on Ortega Hwy. It wasn't until we got onto Ortega were we informed that the whole road had been closed since Friday for paving work. So in our attempt to not waste the trip we decided to give Santiago a shot. Well after hitting pretty much every road closure humanly possible (Thanks Orange County Triathlon). We made it to the first gate at Maple Springs and this is where the fun began.

We had taken my friends sedan since dirt roads were not in the original plan. It  would have never made it up the truck road, so we decided hey lets give it a shot from here. Well after plenty of water crossings (that I really wish we would have tried harder at staying dry through) and a long dusty climb shared with trucks and dirt-bikes we managed to  make it to the top parking lot. Now at the start of the “actual trailhead” we sat for a break long enough for every fly in a 5 mile radius to stop by and say  “Hi”. Sitting there, legs ready to continue but feet not willing to cooperate the idea of an additional 9.5 miles on top of the approx. 7 down seemed less appealing in that moment. We decided at that point to cut our loses and head back  down, defeated.

We will be back eventually and whether we drive to the top or again attempt the newly coined “Full Santiago” is yet to be seen.