Saturday was a gorgeous day to hike at Mt. Pinos, which offered a respite from the L.A. heat thanks to the higher elevation.

Maggie May and I hiked with our friend, Mish, for this peak, which was our first in this year's Six-Pack challenge.

Maggie had surgery in late May to remove a rare form of intestinal cancer, but it's looking like the surgeon got it all. Meanwhile, she's a 10-year-old dog who remains blissfully unaware of her age and previous cancer issues, and is ready to go, go, go. Last year, Maggie completed Mt. Baden Powell, Cucamonga, Ontario and Baldy with me. It's looking like she's ready for another hiking season.

For this one, we started around 10 a.m. and finished about 3 p.m. We could have done it much faster, but we stopped to take photos of the nice meadows, appreciate the views and hung out for a bit at the summit with some nice folks.

There was one part where the bushes were a bit overgrown. I had on shorts and high socks and was fine, but an FYI for anyone hoping to wear shorts.

I would recommend still bringing plenty of water because 1. There isn't any on the trail 2. There isn't any at the campsites and 3. It still gets hot, even with the cooler air temps.

One cool moment: We saw a small whirlwind in one particularly windy part of the trail. It formed kind of in front of us and whipped past a group of hikers about 20 feet ahead. It was super cool. I'd never seen that happen on a trail.

Excited for the next one!