The first hard climbing is done.
I left the parking lot with fresh legs tuned up by some scrambles and running in the desert visiting sis. This lasted almost the whole way up to the Flats. It took about 50 minutes to reach the flats, I was thinking it was 11 miles one way after doing it on a mountain bike, so was pacing to finish the climb in four hours, more or less. I was excited the night before, it is a challenging day.
Hidden in the shadows of the forground are burnt posts, hence the stone sign now.