After last week’s failed attempt to do the Mt. Pinos-Cerro Noroeste 13-mile traverse, we realized that doing the same circuit in the opposite direction would be 4 miles shorter, principally because we could park at the west trailhead and save the distance over the top of Mt. Pinos. For some reason, Chris had thought the road to the top of Cerro Noroeste was still closed, but minimal research after last week’s hike revealed the road is indeed open. We got a late start and did not reach Cerro Noroeste until after 9am, parking at a wide spot in the road just outside the Campo Alto campground atop the mountain. The Hundred Peaks Section of the Angeles Sierra Club chapter indicates there is a summit register located somewhere on Cerro Noroeste (though they encourage that it be kept well-hidden since the campground is so close – that instruction is evidently well-heeded), and we spent the next 45 minutes trying to find it. We first checked out a pile of rocks near the radio tower south of the campground but found nothing, then moved our search to another rockpile a few yards north (the true summit) but again found no sign of the red coffee can that is apparently the trademark of HPS-listed peaks. We began wandering north through the woods, finding several boulders that might compete for high-point honors but no register, and eventually made our way back to the car, realizing that we had parked next to the largest clump of boulders in the whole area. Wouldn’t it be ironic if we had parked next to the register and had walked close to a mile trying to find it elsewhere? Yes, but it was not to be – apart from a survey marker, we found nothing of interest among the rocks. So, frustrated in our search, we motored back down the road about 1/2 a mile to the west Tumamait trailhead, confident we had at least “summited” Cerro Noroeste. The view from the trailhead was marvelous – it was just now 10am, and the air was markedly clearer than last week. Though the thermometer in the van read 50 degrees, a stiff breeze was blowing from the north that made it feel more like the low 40s – the wind would not let up all day. We took off eastward down the steep, open slope, thinking this would be a pretty tough climb at the end of our hike (we were not disappointed). We quickly gained the forest shade and reached the bottom of the saddle, Puerta del Suelo, a half-mile from the start – here, we passed a junction with the Mesa Springs trail (that comes up from a campground to the south) and immediately began climbing up the steep western shoulder of Grouse Mountain. The trail seemed to follow the fall line of the slope more than it traversed it in this section, and we were glad as the grade eased a bit over the next mile or so. We passed the duck marking the Grouse Mountain use trail, knowing from here onward we were back on familiar ground. Shortly east of this junction, we found large tracks alongside the trail, perhaps from a bear, and a few yards further found the cloven hoofprint of a deer. The rest of the trip eastward was uneventful – we passed a handful of hikers heading west, one of them evidently being David Stillman, whose registry entries preceded ours on Sawmill and Grouse Mountains (we checked his web page – he’s a prolific hiker and photographer, and we’ve added his blog to the list at right). We reached the summit of Mt. Pinos somewhere around 12:30pm and made a beeline to the rocky outcrop southeast of the summit antenna – while Chris searched around the base, Jane climbed to the top and found the register can wedged in a cleft near the apex. After signing in, we began heading west again and looking for a sheltered spot to enjoy our lunch out of the wind. The views were great, and before long we were heading back up the east slope of Sawmill Mountain, deciding to visit that summit again prior to stopping to eat. How we missed the register can last week is a mystery – there it was, nestled in a little cubbyhole at the base of the summit cairn (a Chumash prayer tower, as a sign embedded within it notes). The wind here was blowing pretty strongly, so, after snapping a few pictures, we resumed our trek west and south back to the main trail. At this point, we knew it was just a few more minutes west to our lunch spot from last week, so that’s where we went, to a large clearing along the trail overlooking the eastern face of Grouse Mountain. Since we had signed that register last week, we had talked about not needing to repeat the feat this week, but as we were now familiar with the trail, we decided it was worth the effort to say we did all four peaks in the same day. Off we went, heading back up the use trail to the forested summit of Grouse Mountain – only two parties had signed in since our last visit, and both of those earlier that day. As we left the summit heading north, we again decided to try our hand at cross-country travel, knowing that we had a GPS track from that morning to help guide us – we found the main trail without any trouble at all, although we’ve now verified that it lies several hundred yards north of where the official map indicates it to be. Back west we went down the not-so-gentle grade deep into Puerta del Suelo – the trip up the hill from there started better than we had expected, but the trail steepened considerably as we approached the clearing about 1/4 mile from the car. Still, climbing out in mile 9 was definitely easier than descending through mile 8, and it felt good to top out right next to where we had parked. We had some passing thoughts about driving back to the Cerro Noroeste summit for another shot at locating the register there, but we concluded that enough was enough and headed for home. This was a great hike – beautiful views, a trail in good condition, and a tremendous workout.