"I got the urge to climb Toro Peak once again. I wanted to complete it with better time. However I failed. But only this time it was less cold and no bad weather. The sun made it more difficult. I made better summit time this time around. It took me 7 hours and 10 minutes as opposed to 8 hours and something mins. My bag also weighed 3 pounds heavier I don’t know why. 25.4lbs. My back was aching 10 miles in. I took the same amount of water and brought 3 extra peanut butter and jelly sandwiches this time lol. But there is no escaping the pain on the descent. After summiting this time my back was the only thing that was in pain. But as soon as I started the descent my legs and feet also began to hurt. But I can’t express it enough just how bad it hurt to walk. But I still had 7 hours to go to get to my car. The burning sensations and the agonizing pain in my legs an and feet. I’ll never forget it. The amount of times my legs gave out this time was too many to count. The amount of slips and falls on the way down was also hard to keep track of. The hallucinations were worse this time around too. I envisioned cars on the rail. And even a goblin that turned out to just be a tree. And much ..." — pablotovar • May 14, 2025

"I had no experience in long distance hiking. I’ve had a few 10 mile hikes before this one. And with hardly any elevation gain. I went in with mindset over matter. The mountain did not deceive given that the trail is pretty easy to walk through until little patches of snow came around. I took 1 gallon of water and 2 peanut and jelly sandwiches. The trek took 15 hours and 32 minutes. And I cannot lie, I wish I brought more food I ate both the sandwiches 5 hours into the hike. Once I was 5 miles away from the summit. Things went south. The lack of food and altitude became a problem my head began to hurt and I was hallucinating. Trees looked like people and the fog made things worse. Rocks would look like dogs. And I would hear unnatural sounds. But I wasn’t scared because I knew none of it was real. But when I summited I couldn’t believe it. I did it. But my body was destroyed from trekking ~13-15 miles up. And I still had to go down. There were some people who drove up and were going down who offered me rides down. But I declined. I was on a mission to prove it to myself that I could push through. That I did. My legs were giving out on the descent. My legs feet and back all felt like..." — pablotovar • Mar 1, 2025

"Great Start for my Last Week of Vacation before returning to Sea Level. Easy access from the Road drive up as much or little as you want, I parked at the Saddle between Toro and Santa Rosa Mountain so I got a good Hike out of Toro. " — Nuernberger • Jul 10, 2015

"After driving up Thomas the day before, my confidence in the shitwagon was renewed and I abused her almost to the summit. Parked just below the gates, the headed cross country to the summit just as the sun started to poke through." — Christopher • Jan 25, 2014