Bagged my fifth peak in the SoCal challenge on Thursday with my friend Jason (his sixth peak, and fifth straight year as a finisher).

We started at 5:45am and reached the summit at 11:00am. Plenty of water in Vivian Creek, at Halfway Camp, and at High Creek (last water before the summit). We were the first to the summit and had it to ourselves… except for a fearless gang of chipmunks.

On our way back down, we passed a total of 15 day hikers on their way up, and two backpackers planning on overnighting. The trail is in great shape, and I was pleased to find very little trash (some pistachio shells and orange peels — remember to pack them out, folks!).

The temperatures were comfortable the entire way up, although the last 1.5 miles the sun was pretty strong. On the way down, it warmed up, but it wasn't as bad as I expected. Of course, after our hike we stopped for root beer floats at A&W in Mentone, and it was over 100 degrees. Yikes.

Felt pretty good, but it's a long, 19 mile hike with over 5,000′ of vertical. It's never easy, but always an accomplishment you can feel good about.