Mt. Wilson

I recently joined a group of hikers called the OC hiking club who introduced me to many good hiking trails around orange county and the LA area. 

 Today we're tackling Mt. Wilson.  Picked up my hiking companion (dad) and got to the bottom of the trail @ 7:50am.

For the first mile or so there's no shade.  It got pretty hot so we were just trying to go as fast as we could.  Also the incline were steep at some point, so by the time we got to the first marker I already felt like I got a good workout!

Dirt trail.  Following the advise of hikers on the internet, I wore long pants and brought along a bug repellent.  They weren't exaggerating about the bugs!  There were flies EVERYWHERE!!  And I was surprised when they bit me THRU MY PANTS!!  Because of the flies we hardly took breaks, and when we did take them, they were short and I never sat down.  Instead I did my "fly dance" trying to keep the flies off of me!  Next time we go I'm seriously considering one Yelper's suggestion of wearing a bug net!

Bugs aside, once we got into the mountains it was a beautiful and enjoyable hike.  The vegetation provided some much needed shades and there were all kinds of wild flowers to look at along the trail.  There is a stream running along the trail and we spotted a few wet doggies. 

long pants are definitely the way to go on this trail.  Also I was excited go see this little guy hiking in the mountains.  Small yet mighty!  Now that we know our way around next time I'm definitely bringing the doggies along. 

It took us two hours to the half way point.  Since I had brunch on my mind the whole way up, we decided to turn around and hike back down.  The return trip took approx. 90 minutes.

This was my reward for a good hike!