A Quick Tag And Go

This time I picked up my cousin at 10:30 am and got to the trailhead at 11 am. We blazed up the trail with faint cloud-cover over our heads, making it to the top of the ridge in 50 minutes. The second time around seemed a lot shorter as the familiar paths we took the day before flew past us in a hurry. It took only 20 minutes to work our way over the base of the 8,250 foot peak we climbed 23 hours earlier. Unfortunately, the northwest flank of the mountain had more cacti than the entire trail from the peak to Piedra Lisa Trail put together. Coupled with the large rocks and rockslide areas, the cacti made it extremely difficult to find a path to the next ridge. After climbing up and down several 10-30 foot rock faces and through tough oak and pine clusters without a machete, we managed to make it to the ridge as the sun seared the lovely clouds and bore down on us. The hot rocks and prickly flora clogged our passage to the summit, but another path opened up after a little exploration along the south side of Rincon Peak. It took a total of 2 hours to reach the peak. Dehydrated and concerned about the darkening clouds over the larger peaks, we decided to head back after only 5 minutes on the peak. It took an hour to get back to the Piedra Lisa Trail and from there we ran the rest of the way. We returned to the car in 20 minutes from the ridge.