It's that time of year again where we start taking the new crop of Wilderness Travel Course students on outings!  After three weeks of classroom sessions we spent Saturday hiking Santiago Peak via the Holy Jim Trail.   It's an Orange County classic it involving 15 ish miles and 4k gain all on trail making it a great fitness assessment before we continue on to the rock scrambling, snowshoe, and finally a winter backpack in the Sierra!

February 3rd, 2018

Santiago Peak (5,687')

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Hiking the Santa Ana Mountains Main Divide Truck Trail

What:  91 Freeway & Cole Canyon to Trabuco Canyon Via Main Divide
  Sierra Peak (3.045')
  Hagador Peak (3,880')
  Pleasants Peak (4,007')
  Bedford Peak(3,800')
  Bald Peak (3,947')
  Modjeska Peak (5,496')
Where:  Santa Ana Mountains, Orange County, CA
When:  April 11th, 2010
Who:  Matthew Hengst, John Slagle, Christine Soskins, Dave Driscol
Stats:  34 miles, 8,700'
Pictures:  Matt's Flickr
GPS Track:  Matt's

After a somewhat less than successful hike the previous weekend in the general vicinity of Villager Peak and my own near cancelation this weekend for family reasons our group training for the HPS Big 4 Butt Kicker Edition backpack was on somewhat shaky ground.
 
Fortunately everything resolved itself at the last minute and we were off for a planned 34-ish mile hike with six (admittedly minor) peaks and 9,000 ft of gain to round out a full day.  Yeehaw!