This past Friday, July 30th, a number of the pack set out at 5AM for the San Jacinto Mountain Peak.  
Max, Rick, Cayley and I took Black Mountain Trail starting at 830AM and headed for the peak. 7.25 miles to the peak, the trek spanned a change of 4,500 feet in elevation. The entire 14.5 mile round trip took me 10 hours. The others made it back at different times.  

Here are just a few of the photos to catalogue our epic foray into the wild.

Got an early start just in time to see the sun come up.

Head Navigator Rick Nakao with his TomTom to guide the way.

The skies were truly gorgeous as we drove through palm springs on our way up to the mountains.

The flowers along the trail were something else, the colors a subdued range of pastels.

Max, Rick, and Cayley look out over the vista from 7,500 feet.

Ginormous ants infested many a fallen tree in the wilderness.

Panda bear moss!

Cayley's time-tested leather boots. They don't make them like this anymore.

Sometimes you have to stop to take in the sights. 

The single picture of me in front of the camera.

Mt. San Jacinto Peak. Elevation 10,834 ft. The fruition of our trip.

Rick's picture says it best: "I did it!"

I fell. All of the hiking pumped a bunch of blood out of a tiny cut. Cool.

The side of a very cool rock formation. The scales of a dragon? Or perhaps the back of a turtle?

The views weren't extremely clear.

The light coming in from the sunset through the trees was breathtaking.

A panorama. For good measure.

Jordan Ryan is the Search Engine Optimization & Internet Marketing Specialist at Dogs of Design Studios. Follow him on Twitter @jordan_ryan.