Hikefest Day 2. The most iconic summit in the San Luis Obispo area is 1,559′ Bishop Peak, its 2-mile trail to the top being very popular with local residents and students at nearby Cal Poly SLO. We had wanted to hike this peak for some time, and, feeling emboldened by our ascent of Cerro Cabrillo the day before, we decided to take this one on. The day was quite warm, and the shade of a large oak grove was welcome as we left the trailhead, gradually moving northwest up the mountain’s east side. Reaching a junction, we passed through a gate and began traversing our way around the peak’s southeastern shoulder as views to downtown and points east began to open up. Upon reaching the mountain’s south face, the trail began to switchback steeply up toward the top – the going was less than comfortable as the midday sun made things just plain hot, and we wished we had gotten an earlier start. There were plenty of people on the trail, including some running their way to the summit, and we felt a little humbled at our conditioning (or lack thereof) compared to these energetic youngsters. The trail crests the mountaintop between the East and Middle summits, and we were rewarded with a cool breeze from the north as we gained the ridgeline. After resting a bit, we made our way along brushy use trails toward the Middle Summit, the highest of the three. The actual summit block is quite technical, but immediately to its east is a secondary block that looked doable – Chris, however, could not get a sufficient hold to scale it until Jane suggested that she act as a footstool to boost him up. This we did, laughing and wishing somebody had taken a video of our exploit. We took some pictures and scrambled back to the top of the trail, leisurely making our way down the switchbacks. As we neared the bottom, we noticed a blimp flying eastward down the Los Osos valley – no idea where it was going or what its purpose may have been, but its pilot no doubt was enjoying the view on such a fine day. We were treated to a gorgeous sunset – we happened to be staying at our favorite campsite that has an unobstructed view to the ocean across a lagoon, and the sky turned fiery orange as the sun met the horizon. Definitely a great hike that we’ll do again someday.