What a wonderful adventure it was. The highest peak in Orange County conquered! Although we started a little bit later than usual at 9:30 and on an extremely hot day, this turned out to be a wonderful hike. 

I did It together with newly met friends Michal and his wife Lucia. 

The trail was long and quite steep. It lead us through dusty, dry, sun-exposed patches to a bit wooded, poison oak filled windy paths. 

At some point, we passed an area full of tall white poppies in full bloom happily perched against the bluest sky with colorful butterflies dancing around. And despite the trail being marked as a favorite of dirt bike riders, we did not encounter too many.

A mile before the top, Joplin trail dumped us to a wide dirt fireroad with offroading trucks. Luckily, Michal found a shortcut a bit offside that saved us from basking in the dust left by the cars! It saved us a good mile or so as well.

The peak sported tons of tall antennas but the views were amazing. We could see Modjeska peak nearby and San Gorgonio, San Jacinto in the distance as well as Mt Baldy with all surrounding peaks all the way in the north.

We also met a fellow solo hiker Matt scaling his #2 peak. Yay!!

Getting down was a bit challenging because of the loose dirt and rocks and the slightly steep descent in some sections.

But we did it!! 14.5 miles, 7:30 hours, 32’30” avg pace, and 2700 calories burnt rewarded by juicy burgers and delish beer at Hopdoddy!  Cheers to my number 6!!