Started this hike later than planned at 6:25 AM on Thursday, June 3rd. Though the morning started off cool enough, it ended up being a fairly humid and sticky day with a high of 82 when I returned to the car. I logged 10.12 miles round trip, in 4 hours 3o minutes (3 hours 54 minutes moving time).

The trail was a bit overgrown, and I could tell from the hike logs at the trailhead that I was the first person on trail since the day prior. That meant first through all of the spiderwebs that had accumulated overnight, and boy, were there a lot of them! The trip to the peak took me much longer than anticipated just from the sheer number of stops I had to make to wipe the spiderwebs (and spiders) off my sticky face and arms.

Even with using my trekking poles to clear the webs ahead, this was still a nerve wracking hike directly through mountain lion territory on narrow overgrown single track. My nerves were on edge most of the ascent, constantly checking ahead and behind, and making plenty of noise as I came through to make sure I didn't surprise any unsuspecting woodland creatures.

The very top of the trail (after you make your final right turn and scramble straight up through the sandy/rocky section) was a bit misleading. The AllTrails map has the peak marked off of the side of a cliff! I took four separate “side trails” to try and reach the marked location before realizing this wasn't where I was actually meant to be headed. The peak itself was a bit more to the left and uphill than where it was marked on AllTrails.

I stayed at the peak for about 20 minutes, but it was getting warm and it was a bit later than I had hoped, so I ran the majority of the downhill to avoid the bugs and make up time. I did encounter one rattlesnake off to the side of the trail on the descent, but was able to make enough noise with my trekking poles to scare it off and be on my way. Sitton is definitely a one and done for me (at least I say that now). This wasn't my favorite trail of the challenge!