Tried a different route this time to summit El Madre. Found it to be a more favorable route than the last 2 that I did. We followed the wash (the one that you cross near the beginning of the hike) for about 1.75 miles and then exited west up another wash that took us up to the northern ridgeline route to La Madre. Very casual route for the first couple of miles. The final push (1/4 mile) to the ridge line was a little steep and loose....but what isn't in the La Madre area. The descent off of Fernande was okay, but not what we expected. Rather than climb back up to La Madre and descend the "standard" route we decided to drop off the north side down to a wash that runs east west in the valley below. We went west in the wash and eventually joined the northern ridgeline route to La Madre. The elevation gain at the end of the wash was a little steep but overall we weren't disappointed with our decision. It turns out the the climb back up the ridgeline to La Madre from Fernande had slightly less elevation gain than the wash. Over half of the distance on the track that I am posting was completely exploratory....not the "standard" route that people have used.