San Diego is not really close to where I live so we decided to spend the night in Ramona. This way we can head to the trail reasonably early enough because the plan is to hike Volcan and Cuyamaca back to back today.

Arrived at street parking around 7am with a handful of vehicles parked already. Our group was a lot bigger than usual as our hiking friends brought some of their  friends along and it was a fun hike. They are all from SD area… lucky😊 Some of them are first timers and others not. What made this exciting was none of these locals saw the USGS marker before and my friend and I showed them😁after our obligatory photos next to the tower of course. It was kinda a big deal especially that this mountain doesn’t distinctly present a sign.

There was a big patch of snow along the side of the last uphill for a nice photo op. Last week had more but I love to see some snow regardless but I don’t particularly love it when walking on thick snow. It was also quite windy at the top and a bit chilly during  the hike up.

On our way back, we traversed five oaks trail, made our hike somewhat in a loop. My first time using this trail (thus the title😆) and love the change in scenery. It seems that more people is using this trail going up. I guess it’s logical, though narrow, has a few switchbacks than the wide trail.

The hike was concluded with a brunch and apple pie in Julian…of course.