From Pioneer Mail Trailhead, I found a shady place to park and crossed the highway to pick up the trail. The trail has minor elevation gain, which is unusual for a peak hike. The Pine Mountain trail wraps around the lower slopes of Pine Mountain before continuing beyond the peak. When the trail crosses a forest road, that is the time to abandon the trail and continue on the dirt road. At first, I continued on the well manicured Pine Mountain Trail before realizing that this was not going to get the job done. I quickly doubled back and followed the dirt road. I arrived at some nice pine trees that lined the road with shade on the way up to near the high point. At a point where the dirt road begins to start going downhill, I left the road and did a makeshift cross-country route toward the highest point. I wound up getting a lot of stickers in my socks from the brown grass in my short off trail trek. Eventually, I settled on a point that looked to be the highest area I could find. With that, I declared Pine Mountain to be climbed, so I found my way back to the road and retraced my steps back to the parking lot.