random memes }

Saddleback (cooler)

Went up Saddleback Peak from the Holy Jim trailhead this last Sunday. Rather a pleasant hike. What a difference a couple months makes! During the summer the heat and insects were ferocious. The air temperature was down 20-30 degrees from the summer, and the insect population is almost entirely gone. About a dozen volunteers from a mountain bike club were out doing trail maintenance, but otherwise very few people on the trail. From Saddleback you could watch a very dramatic thundercloud building over the mountains to the east. Didn't push at all hard and my time to the top was 3 hours 13 minutes (of which a few minutes were spent chatting with a trail worker). Seems my time to the top is always pretty much the same. This is my fourth hike to the top this year.