On Wednesday evening, I swore off hiking for good. With a grape-sized blister on the side of my heel accompanied by a long, slender blister running the side of the other foot, I could not picture myself walking another trail.

Hours earlier I had been walking the three and a half foot wide trail of the Devil’s Backbone with a roughly 1,000 foot drop on either side of a very steep slope. My arms and neck were red with the promise of sunburns, my legs were caked with a dark brown layer of dust, and all I could think about were the empty water bottles in my backpack…….and the roughly four miles left on the trail. As I could feel my blisters expanding in my shoes.

At 7:20am Ray, my brother-in-law, and I set out from Manker Flats to climb Mt San Antonio (Mt Baldy) via the Ski Hut Trail located in the Eastern San Gabriel Mountains. I had attempted this route 3 other times, once with Ray, but had been rebuked by the mountain two times by fatigue and once by snow. This time (like every other time) I was certain I would get to the top. As we began, we made only one brief stop at San Antonio Falls for a quick breather and glimpse of a nice waterfall. We continued as the asphalt gave way to the fire road and after no more than 20 minutes after we started we were at the jump off for the Ski Hut/Baldy Bowl Trail.   Continue reading →