We've been itching to get outside this winter. Winter...if you can even call it that. It hasn't dropped below 70 here in SoCal yet (It's December).

Remember that one time we hiked up Mt Baldy in the middle of summer? It was easily 90 degrees. Well, we wanted to see what it would look like with some snow. It was beautiful:

Here's that gold star on my hiking badge...

Sam MADE that jacket he is wearing. Yes, made. like needle, thread, sewing machine, pattern...made. 

We spent about 3 minutes on the summit. It was very windy and the cold felt like little pins jabbing my whole body. There weren't many other people there this time compared to last time. But some had carried up victory beers and were drinking them in between shivering. Ha! 

Pizza and beer for dinner that night was well deserved. 

So this one time....we went on a 11 mile (completely exposed) hike in the middle of summer. 3,900 feet of elevation gain--no problem. Mt Baldy, Mount San Antonio...whatever you want to call it...total leg buster. We suckered some friends into doing it with us. It took much longer to get out to the trailhead than we expected, so we got a "late start" at about 8:30am. Parking was tough too. It seemed like the whole world was there already.

 The San Gabriels are very hot and dry, but everything outside is beautiful.

The views from the top were breathtaking. 

(We've since climbed Old Baldy in a better mindset, once even with snow on it. This first time it took us an embarrassingly long time to get to the top.) 

Worst shoe choice ever!!!! Merrill Moab's I believe. I took them back to REI after this trip and have been using trail runner's since. 

It's always nice when there is one of these at the peak, it's like getting a gold star on my hiking badge. 

Here's a few from the route down, via Devil's backbone. I tried to capture how steep it was.

It was a successful day, even if it was a long one we all came home sunburned and blistered from. 

L to R: Katy (me), Sam, Nicole, Seth