FallTrip2016

View from Tahquitz Peak looking northwest with Tahquitz and Suicide Rocks.

View looking south. Here you can see Lake Hemet.

For the fall trip, a rag tag group of us went to Idyllwild. Upon our arrival at the campground on Friday night, we caught the last of a meteor shower. From there, things only got better. We were six in total, so we split into four groups depending on activities. Maddie and Jen opted to hike San Jacinto from the bottom to the top. Bradley and Aaron spent the day climbing at Tahquitz. Sujung and I went for a 50-50 mix and spent the morning hiking Tahquitz and the afternoon bouldering at Black Mountain.

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Elle and I decided to take the Devil's Slide up to Tahquitz Peak. Don't forget to get a permit in town! We thought there would be self-serve permit boxes at the trailhead...there weren't and we had to double back to the ranger station in town to get our permits. We ran into two rangers on the trail itself who confirmed we had permits, as well, so it's definitely not something to forget. The hike itself was quite nice, with great views and moderate elevation gain. There was a fire lookout tower at the summit. It was currently staffed (the fire season runs until November) and very neat to see. After we finished our descent, we went to Black Mountain to check out the bouldering there. It's all granite, and hard granite at that! The road up is pretty rough but manageable if you go slowly. We attempted a few problems over near the OK Corral area, but were losing light pretty quickly so after that headed back to the campsite and a fantastic camp dinner by Elizabeth. After another night of camping under clear skies, we made our way back to Pasadena.