The Sentinel. We usually do this hike twice a year but because of Covid... well you know the rest of the story.
Anyways, it was so nice to return to this area. We do this huge loop starting in Westlake that takes us past a total of 4 lakes/reservoiors. These beautiful bodies of water can be seen from on top of the ridge.
The trail consisted of a whole lotta ups and downs as we made our way to the Sentinel, which is the highest point in Westlake. Along the route, we walked through a cool cave. After that we started climbing up a couple of rock faces with treacherous, steep drop-offs that always gave me a thrill.
This time around, I pushed myself to my limit and climbed an additional rock wall that I always declined on previous hikes. The obvious reason fear of falling and cracking my head open. However, this time I had to get over that fear. Speaking of fear, I have found myself being more daring especially when I am not around Sean. haha! To add, our leader is a 74 y/o man who is a bad-ass and can out hike anyone of us. He always climbed that same rock face everytime we did this trek. In fact, not everyone in the group followed but this time I was ready and had to prove a point to myself.
Just before climbing to the top of the Sentinel, was an ascent up a narrow shelf with another sheer drop-off.
This is a short hike but grueling task especially on a hot day and definitely not for everyone. Ropes and helmets are suggested but not needed unless you wanted to do something really crazy. The group has done this hike many times without extra gear. Some of the sheer rock faces rock can be avoided but the final push to the summit is a slippery, steep, rocky ascent.
Surprisingly the summit has a register but no benchmark and I haven't taken the time to really find out the true peak name if it has one. The register box did not have any info. At the top the views were amazing and made it all worth the blood, sweat and tears.
final push to the summit
re-growth after the fire and this is where we descended the sentinel