The Arredondos and Ammeraals were with us for the balance of Thanksgiving weekend in Wrightwood, and Sunday’s plan called for a visit with the kids to Grassy Hollow and a hike of undetermined length along the PCT. Once we got to the first open views west from the trail to Mt. Baden-Powell, Chris suggested we continue walking west up Blue Ridge to Jackson Flat campground – when here back in March, we had wandered through the empty campground and noticed a sign pointing to an observation tower, which we had always suspected was only a concrete cistern that’s visible on the ridgeline above from various places along Hwy 2. We figured now it was about a 30-minute walk away, so off we went to see about this tower. The PCT climbs pretty sharply up from the campground road to the ridge top, but the kids made good time up the hill – at the top, we turned south on an unmarked trail (Chris had previously seen it in satellite photos and new it circled south then west up to the campground), passed through some dense patches of buckthorn, and emerged on a gentle ascent westward up open slopes with beautiful views east and south. At the top of the trail was the concrete observation structure, complete with an attached staircase that spiraled around the cement cylinder and allowed access to the walled open space at its apex – it was very cool, and Chris in particular was quite astonished that we had heard nothing of this attraction before. After taking in the views and eating the snacks we had brought, we descended west off the platform and down to the campground entrance, then following the asphalt road east back to the visitor center. Round trip was right at 3 miles, and we considered the pace to be quite good for the five kids at two hours total – apart from Pedro briefly carrying him on a narrow trail section through the buckthorn, three-year-old Beckett walked the entire way on his own. A really nice day under cool and slightly breezy skies.