DUG really got me wanting to go to San Jacinto as I've been waiting for the snow to melt. I am not nearly as eager to get up early like Doug (Kudos to him.)
I was going to go by myself, but on Tuesday, I asked my son, Cy if he would like to go with me. He has never hiked before and has no hiking clothes, shoes, etc. And I was very concerned about the elevation gain in the nearly 6 mile distance. But, Cy said sure. So, I got him out of bed at 6:45, cooked breakfast for everyone who was up early and Cy and I went up to Marion Mountain Trail. We took our time up the mountain and took a lot longer than I wanted, but every time I asked Cy if he was okay and "do you want to go on or back", he said...."I want to go to then top". After a few well deserved breaks and food and water, we just kept going up. No snow to mention and the weather was perfect. At the summit we called my wife, a botonist/biologist who happened to be working near Idyllwild, and the first thing she said to Cy when he called was..."are you on the top?" That was very exciting and fun to share on the mountain.
Pretty Fun, and believe it or not, while we were on the summit, Cy said, "what's the next mountain we hike?"!!!!!!
Thanks to Doug for the report a few days back. Without it, I'm not sure we would have gone and I would have missed an awesome experience with my son.
p.s. my wife found a plant today that is on the Federally Endangered list and extremely rare. In fact she found several.
"Turtles, Frogs & other Environmental Sculpture"
