This was the second of five planned hikes in Mission Trails Regional Park, where we hiked out to North Fortuna Peak and back, from the parking lot off Mission Gorge Rd. The first mile and a little bit were flat, then it tilted up on a steadily increasing grade to the saddle point between North and South Fortuna Peaks. I stayed with the slower hikers until just before the saddle, then I increased my pace. After the saddle, there were a couple of steep rocky sections, with flatter sections in between. I got to the top first, felt fine even though I had gone through a cold during the week. Some coughing to clear out the accumulated congestion. On the way back, I stayed near the end of the hiker line with Ann, to make sure she got down the steeper sections okay. It was slow going, as the path was quite slippery. Ann had a sore throat, so that slowed her down as well. We took a slightly different route back, heading through the grassland area before cutting across the San Diego River to connect back to the road through the park.
Total distance = 5.8 mi
Total elevation gain = 1010'
Total time = 3 hrs
