The jewel in the crown of Anza-Borrego State Park.
While one site says this is 13.7 miles RT, my Polar HRM recorded almost 16 miles. In any case, while it's all Class 1, it's a little more strenuous than a packed dirt trail due to lots of small rocks.
However, there are much more challenging treads closer to home. For instance, the Mt Emma trail has lots of pebbles-on-hardpack, whereas this trail has almost none of that. It's steep in spots, but not anywhere near, e.g., Register Ridge.
What it does have that I could have done without was a cold, gusty wind. I was hoping for warmer weather but I ended up wearing my puffer for the whole trip. I started with 3.6L of a sports drink and only drank 1.2L of that (as usual, I pre- and post-hydrated.)
Due to the weather, the fact that I was alone, and the fact that, as per usual, I'd got a late start I didn't even try to continue on to Rabbit Peak.
On a downer note, I'd thought I was going to do this with a Sierra Club group and go to Rabbit. However, I was booted from their group due to bogus reasons. That's their right, but I only found out about it after I'd signed up for their next event. They didn't have the guts to boot me to my face. People who engage in such cowardly and dishonorable behavior cannot be trusted on the trail or anywhere else. More on that later.
