We first hiked up the PCT to Mt. Baden-Powell more than a year-and-a-half ago – it was a crisp November day then, and those memories of a tough hike in cool weather were beckoning us to repeat the journey, albeit on a warm Fourth of July Saturday. Baden-Powell’s northeast slope is one of the steepest around, rising about 2,800 vertical feet from Vincent Gap to the summit just 1.2 air-miles away – the PCT takes four miles and 42 switchbacks to cover the elevation gain. As we drove to the trailhead, Jane commented that we don’t do hard hikes anymore, and she has a point. In 2013, we walked over 300 miles and averaged 4.42 miles per hike, although the average distance was just under six miles if you ignore all the short hikes we took while in Maui. In 2014, we only walked 77+ miles and averaged 5.56 miles per hike – so far in 2015, we’ve covered almost 64 miles but averaged only 4.9 miles per hike, including today’s nearly-nine-mile effort. All that said, we do have some longer trips on our radar, so we’ll see if we can reverse the trend and make 2015 a more prolific year. We got organized at Vincent Gap and headed out about 10:20am, sort of kicking ourselves for not starting earlier – that November hike was on a chilly morning in late fall when this part of the mountain was still in deep shade, and the midday July sun made this particular ascent unpleasant at times. We made pretty good time up the trail, although Jane, dealing with some summer allergies, felt winded most of the way. Still, the forest was as beautiful as ever and the views to a clear desert floor were as good as any in recent memory – some low cloud cover moved in and out and helped temper the sun’s effects. We topped out on Baden-Powell’s northeast ridge about 12:45 and made the summit about 5 minutes later, treated to gorgeous views in all directions. Someone, perhaps Boy Scouts, had placed a flag near the summit high point, which was an unexpected treat – we had passed (and had been passed by) several groups on the way up, and some kids took our picture with the flag before we took theirs. We wandered down the south ridge about a quarter-mile as we did on our first visit here (we had come up the PCT the other direction from Dawson Saddle in May 2014 but were short on time and didn’t stay on the top but for a few minutes), before meandering back to the summit area for a brief rest – there was a group of hikers occupying seats on a log about 100 yards south of the summit, and after they got up and left, we took their place – what a wonderful spot for a break. The photos, though dramatic, don’t really come close to conveying the grandeur of the view – this is a marvelous place, and well worth the effort in getting to it. We headed back about 1:30, choosing to explore the trail to Lamel Spring for a short distance before deciding to continue the descent, leaving the spring for another time. We reached the bottom at 3:20pm, logging exactly five hours on the trail and covering 8.73 miles. It had looked like we might get some weather as we completed the bottom half of the trail, but the thunderheads stayed well to the east. A beautiful hike, though warm, and a great way to celebrate the holiday.