"I started out this hike at 11 AM (very late) and I only had a 4 hour slot in Lake Elsinore for the mountain bike ride. Then I rode up the Man Divide Road, which has some great views. Then I saw Lake Elsinore. Then I summited Mt Cairn and the summit had great views and a ruined device. Then I went up to Vicker Benchmark. I saw a weird weather monitoring thing and some beautiful flowers. Then I went to the summit, which has meh views and the benchmark. I also found a nearby coffee can which is the register I placed at the summit. Then I went down the trail I went up the trail and turned left to go to Munhall Saddle. Then at Munhall Saddle I turned left to get onto the Los Pinos Trail. Then I summited Burnt Mountain, which is boring. Then the trail was cool and has a forest. Then I summited Los Pinos. The summit has a sign, 2 benchmarks, a register, and some insane views. Then I mountain biked back down." — lc444 • Apr 24, 2023

"Started out on the Bell View Trail at about 5AM. The trail was okay but rocky. We saw a few signs at the start. Then after a while we reached a trail junction with an innaccurate trail sign. We turned right. Then we ascended a not so steep hill until we saw a small pond. Then we reached the main trail again. Then we proceeded to summit Small Peak. Small Peak had cool views of the valley floor (OC, SD, and LA counties). Small Peak also had a flag pole and 2 registers and a benchmark that was stolen. Then we proceeded on the Bell View Trail for a long while until we reached Rocky Mountain. The hike to Rocky Mountain was relatively uneventful. I forgot to mention this that we were hiking with this club called the VHC (Vietnamese Hiking Community). Then when we reached Rocky Mountain there were beautiful views of the valley and the Santa Anas. The summit of Rocky Mountain felt more like New York's Catskills or the Appullashons. Then we climber more to the foot of Flat Jack Peak. We bypassed Flat Jack Peak and continued around Flat Jack Peak until we decided to bag it a few minutes afterward. Then we reached Burnt Meadow. The meadow's look is self-explanetory. Then we reached a small ca..." — lcnguyen • Jan 19, 2022

"With a 4 hour window to hike while I was in Lake Elsinore, I opted to revisit Los Pinos Peak. My last time there was 19 years ago, so I was overdue to come back. To start things off, I stopped off at Cairn Mountain first, which has good views toward Lake Elsinore. Next up was Vicker Benchmark. While on the summit, I noticed a giant cloud swallow Los Pinos Peak and Burnt Mountain. This made the rest of the hike in the fog with no distant views. Good day in the mountains, nonetheless! " — MikeTeeples • Dec 31, 2021

"We started at the junction of Long Canyon Road and Main Divide Rd. We continued for a few minutes (walking) to the actual trailhead. There was a small 3S04 sign and a gate at the actual trailhead. After that, it just got more scenic. Then we passed by a firebreak, went by a small bowl, and saw an old 3s04 sign. Then we saw our first pine tree and then we turned right off the Main Divide to get to Vicker Benchmark. The trail was loose n' steep, even tho it just rained a few days ago. Then we saw a antenna, and faster than we knew it, e were at the summit of Vicker Benchmark. It had a benchmark on top and some decent views. We went down a steep and loose trail but ended up having to scramble down (since we were only about 5 feet) down to Main Divide Rd. The steep and loose trail had some ccol stuff on it. Then after that we reached Munhall Saddle. Just a junction, no plaque. Then we continued on the LOs Pinos Trail. The trail was very steep a first, then mellows out o bumps on the ridge. After that we hit up Burnt Mountain (a peak I just added to Peakery) Then we reached Little Los Pinos Saddle. I started to get cold there. We almost missed the turn up to the summit but luckily my d..." — lcnguyen • Dec 13, 2021

"The Beast - I joined up with some friends from the hiking group 3H (Hiking For Health and Happiness) to do there annual "La Bestia" hike. This hike took us to five peaks, 2 campgrounds (one where we bbq'd), 29.2 miles and almost 8,000 feet in elevation gain. Wow! What hike with some great people. The leads for this group knew what they were doing and took care and responsibility for everyone on the trail." — Philip-Yoho • Dec 16, 2017

"Nice challenging hike today with my friends from Hike Beyond the Hills. You know its a tough day when your total elevation gain is more than the highest elevation of the climb. " — Philip-Yoho • Mar 25, 2017

"Lovely, peaceful hike up Main Divide from its intersection with Long Canyon Rd. I visited Vicker Banchmark (4,316') near Los Pinos Saddle (AKA Munhall Saddle) prior to Los Pinos. This is my second visit to Los Pinos; last was 4/15/15." — brianpowell • Jan 25, 2017

"Moderate Hike up from Junction of Main Divide/Long Canyon Roads near Blue Jay/Falcon Campgrounds, up Main Divide to Los Pinos Saddle, turning west at Los Pinos Trail to summit. Wonderful views of Santa Ana Mountains and surrounding lowland terrain. Lovely stands of mature chaparral along the route, and a rare Ceanothus, Wartleaf Ceanothus (Ceanothus papillosus) along the trail." — brianpowell • Apr 11, 2015

"The 3 musketeers were at it again today with backpacks full of cold beer and pockets full of bud we headed out to Trabuco Canyon after some bomb breakfast and frosty mugs of beer at Irvine Lake. After driving the bumpy Trabuco creek road all the way to the end we got on the west horse thief trail, absolutely gorgeous morning in the tree canopy! Instead of going all the way to the trabuco canyon trail we turned right early and explored a differnt trail not on any map. THis trail followed the creek for a bit and then went straight up the ridge with very few switch backs. We called it the Devil's Billy Goat Trail. Although it was mean and steep at times it was very very beautiful up in the Pine forest canopy along the north slope of Los Pinos. Halfway up it opened up into a decent sized meadow. This trail led us all the way to the top of the ridge just west of the summit. From there it was a fun climb up in the sunshine where we consumed the rest of our beer up top, enjoyed the views and made smoke signals while talking to some other hikers who made the summit. This was #16 of my 100 peaks in 2014 goal." — 1-with-Nature • Feb 23, 2014

"This hike was the 1st date and 1st time I had met the love of my life. We been talking online for about a year before we got together for this hike and began our relationship. I wanted to see if she had it in her to be with me so I took her on a 13 mile roundtrip hike with 2500 feet elevation gain up to the summit of Los Pinos Peak. It was a beautiful and warm day in Trabuco Canyon. It was the 1st time I split off from the west horsethief trail to the Trabuco canyon trail which was an awesome trail I must say! It leads up to the Main Divide Road where you connect with the Los Pinos Peak Trail. The Summit was awesome and her company was great. She did a good job getting up there and looked good while doing so. We hit off quite well and didn't return to our cars until after dark where we held hands for the last couple miles." — 1-with-Nature • Mar 13, 2012