Glancing back at the Pinyon/Bear Ridge after emerging from the north slope. 2 trips up and down that slope are more than enough for one lifetime.

A very welcome section of downhill before the final climb to JSP.

Right turn takes one down the original roadbed and to a (reliable?) water source. I still had a bit of water left and decided to just tough it out rather than take the detour down to the spring. (The creek near the initial trailsign on the Santa Lucia trail had water so was able to refill on the way back down from JSP)

Half mile to the peak, on the old fire road. Moving pretty slowly now.

Taking a rest to eat dinner and finish off the last of my water before doing the last bit back to JSP.

Mini 3 shot panorama of the Pinyon/Bear ridge from the firebreak descending from JSP

I've never been able to find a good route for traversing this initial section from JSP and had to pick my way through the chapparal once again. There's an old roadbed under here somewhere. The topo seems to indicate that the original road headed off to the right (skipping the summit) and I think I can now see it at the bottom of the shot)

Stopped at the hut in hopes that someone had left some water. No luck. Someone had built a front porch for the hut since I had last traveled this way.

Was in no mood to climb the tower today. 6 miles downhill from here.