16 miles is longer than it sounds

A few weeks ago Mark and I decided that we were going to hike Santiago Peak. We were so excited that we started taking pictures of the drive before the hike even started. Below is what part of the drive looked like.

A few pictures of us during the hike.

The view was pretty awesome. I guess it may not be that awesome compared to Utah or Northern California or something like that. But for Orange County this is amazing!

As we started getting closer to the top our view started to look like clouds.

This is our "Woo hoo! We made it to the top!" pose.

We were slightly disappointed with our view from the top though. On a good day you can see the lake and valley on one side and then the ocean on the other. But instead we got to get all close and personal with the clouds.

It was a really fun hike though. We definitely enjoyed it. Although it will probably be a while before we do it again. 16 miles is long! We were pretty tired when we got to the top, but we ate our lunch and rested for a while so when we started to head back down the mountain we were feeling pretty good. And then my knees started hurting and Mark's feet were covered in blisters. So by the time we finally got back to the truck we were pretty relieved and couldn't wait to go soak in the hot tub! Hopefully next time we will be in better shape and maybe we can convince people to go with us!! Anyone up for it?