When I met up with Adolfo and Liam about 11:30am I thought we'd have a nice ride to the top of the mountain, see a View, take some pictures and head back down in 2 hours tops; leaving me plenty of time to stop at Matt's house, just north of Palm Springs, before heading back to San Diego. I didn't realize there was a whole forest to explore and views that took your breath away at every turn; except the butterscotch, vanilla, pine scented clear, clear air makes you want to stay there for a week just breathing.

We didn't get back down to our cars until 5:30. Matt had already headed out for a ride with his horses and I needed to head home. Thank you Matt for understanding; I think we made up for it a couple weeks later at Big Bear. Thanks to Adolfo for sharing photographs; and to Liam who, sadly, has had to return to Oz. And thanks to you, readers of my blog, for patiently waiting for updates. I plan to get back to Mount San Jacinto often, to see it in all seasons.