Garnet Peak

After Volcan Mountain that morning, the drive over to the Laguna Mountains made for a good second act — parking at the Penny Pines Trailhead off Sunrise Highway and following the Pacific Crest Trail north through rolling, mixed-conifer terrain, a completely different feel from the oak grassland earlier in the day.

A trailside bench partway along the approach delivered one of the best moments of the whole day — a sweeping view straight down into the Anza-Borrego Desert, the folded, sunburned ridgelines dropping away thousands of feet below the edge of the Laguna Escarpment. From there, the trail turns rocky as it leaves the PCT for the short, steep spur up to Garnet Peak itself, finishing with some genuine hands-on-rock scrambling over the last stretch.

The summit at roughly 5,900 feet is a jumble of exposed granite boulders sitting right on the edge of the escarpment, with the desert floor falling away almost 6,000 feet below and the Salton Sea visible in the distance on a clear day. A good spot to sit, catch a breath, and take in the view before scrambling back down and heading home.

Two very different summits in one day — Volcan's easy oak-shaded climb in the morning, followed by Garnet's short, rocky scramble with one of the biggest views in the county. A great way to close out a January weekend.