We parked three miles before the official trail head to give us a bit more of a challenge. There's one curve in the road where we spotted four wrecked cars in the gully below.

We summit Santiago before via the Holy Jim trail – which is a mother! Since I wanted to walk the next day, we decided to summit this time via Maple Springs trail. Which is a fire road shared with mountain bikers, motorcycles, and 4×4's. It felt like hiking in Griffith Park if Griffith Park allowed motorized vehicles. At one point, a group of 20 Jeeps passed us. Dust.  Serious dust. We were asked three times by drivers passing by if we needed any water or food. All the drivers were very thoughtful and drove slowly pass us to try to keep the dust to a minimum.

The overcast skies made for ideal hiking conditions. It's lovely to hike above the clouds and eye the other peaks in the distance.

In summary, I'm glad we did it even if it might be our only time we do.