It was an really beautiful day for a hike, sunny but cool. There were a lot of people at Chantry Flats. The parking lot was almost completely full at 6:20. However, even though it was pretty busy on the trails, the folks were all so nice and happy to be there that I ended up hiking with a few groups including a boy scout troop from Fullerton. I took a detour to Mt Zion which was really nice. I hadn't been up there before and the view was fantastic. The switchbacks of doom were exactly as I remembered them, but some fun pit stops with several other hikers made the ascent really fun. Up on Mt Wilson it was pretty cold. There were iced over puddles near the bridge. There was also no water available. The water fountain was shut off and the refill station had a note saying that they had repaired a leak and were waiting for testing conformation that there had been no contamination in the line. I could have run some water from the bathroom through my Sawyer but since I had brought a couple of liters, I didn't see the need to. I headed back down via Toll Road and Winter Creek and ended up hiking the last couple miles with Canyon Dave, a local archivist, photographer and the caretaker for the donkeys at the Pack Station who I got to meet. Definitely search him out the next time you go up there. He knows everything about the history of the canyon, the cabins, and the people who made it all happen. He also knows the trails like the back of his hand since he's a local. By the time I got to my car and checked my tracking app, I discovered I had logged 19 miles on my big crazy loop, but it was one of those days where the trail meets you easy and you don't even realize you've gone so far.