On a day which will be remembered more for completing an epic drive along the length of Santa Clara Truck Trail, I managed to tag a few peaks as well. Due to hunting season beginning the day before, the road was open to drive. My long day hike plans to hike Magic Mountain only, quickly changed with the opportunity to visit more peaks along the road. Although the paved road was crumbly along the way, it was still a paved road, which allowed me to drive right to the top of Magic Mountain. However, once there, I didn't get much of a chance to look for a benchmark, since hunters were congregating there. Rather than being a problem, I moved on.

Instead of returning back down the road, I decided to have an adventure. I turned left and headed east and began a long stretch of dirt road travel along the ridge. I drove about 14 miles along the narrow road, while passing other hunters that took up viewing positions along the side of the road. I stopped outside of Messenger Flats Campground and quickly found the access route to Messenger Peak (1.2 miles RT). I hit the road again thereafter and drove just another mile to Lightning Point Group Campground. Once there, I took the short hike to Rocky Benchmark (1.5 miles RT). After reaching the summit, though, I got cheated out of viewing the benchmark, since a lone hunter was sitting right on top of the high point. That's OK, though, since if it wasn't for hunting season, I wouldn't have actually made it there in the first place.

At this point, the road had already returned to pavement, which allowed the final 10 miles to be rather smooth sailing. However, before closing out the peak visits, I made a point to visit Mount Gleason. The hike was merely a short diversion from the road (1 miles RT). I found the high point, but once again no benchmark. I went 0-4 on benchmarks on the day, and only found 1 register (Messenger Peak). Nevertheless, 4 peaks are in the bag, along with the completion of a great driving adventure (31 miles along the ridges).