Sally and I got an early start to beat the heat. It was clear that we'd arrived at a good time for wildflowers
We diverted from the trail to take the winter route (basically stays along the east side of the ridge rather than crossing back and forth). Got to Anderson peak a bit before 9 AM and stopped briefly to check out the views of San Gorgonio, San Jacinto and smoke from the Hathaway fire.
We dropped back down to the ridge trail and headed over to east San Bernardino peak, then over to west San Bernardino peak where we stopped a bit after 10 AM and had a lesiurely lunch. The views from the ridge and peaks were surprisingly clear -- actually clearer than on some of my other hikes. We could occaisionally see smoke. The air quality was fine -- we didn't have any problem breathing and our eyes didn't sting.
We could feel the temperature climbing on our way down the San Bernardino peak trail. Stopped at the junction sign at Manzanita flats so I could slather myself with DEET -- the biting flies and mosquitoes had found me. We were glad that we've hiked the trace trail before as there were a few spots that required route finding. Since the route is unmaintained, we occasionally had to manuver through f--kthorn, manglenita and stinkapen. I made my first blood sacrifice of the day going through f--kthorn.
There was water in the two creeks before John's meadow and the gnats came out to play
The stream after John's meadow was flowing very well. I was tempted to stop and put my hot, tired feet in the water but knew that this would make it harder to get back to Sally's car 
Although the trail from John's meadow to Forsee is nice, it seems to take forever. We finally arrived at the TH after spending 9 hours in the San Gorgonio backcountry.
Last but not least, the Oaks restaurant was on their summer schedule, so we didn't miss our cheeseburgers.
Miles of smiles,
Ellen
