Four brave Trailblazers departed the Canyon Lake Marina for the Boulder Canyon Trail 103 at 7:00 AM as the sun was rising. A slightly overcast sky and cool breezes welcomed us. As we reached the first high point on the trail after an arduous climb, we were treated to the last moments of some night-blooming flowers and nice views of Weaver’s Needle and Battleship Mountain. Two hours, many wildflowers, and 3+ miles later, we veered off Trail 103 into La Barge Canyon. Small boulders turned into enormous ones as we began to cross small puddles and little streams. After some boulder climbing and brushes with catclaw on the banks, we reached the La Barge Box, which had pools and running water and a side view of the Battleship.

After a quick rest for lunch, we pondered the possibilities: revisit all the huge boulders and wet stream crossings to return to Trail 103 or soldier on, up the hill to a saddle parallel to the back end of Battleship and then go down to Boulder Creek, a diversion which would add another 1.5 miles to the day.

Being the Trailblazers that we are, we took the longer, higher route. After a few minutes, cairns came into view and we quickly found the trail to the saddle. As we huffed and puffed the steep trail up, Sirous noted a bit of life on the trail, a gila monster, who became shy and hid in a bush off to the side long enough for rest of us to catch a glimpse of him.

Reaching the saddle, we marveled at the panoramic view and found the trail down to Boulder Canyon, the last of which we turned into a steep slide down. At the creek, we found the official Trail 103. If we’d continued it in the opposite direction, we’d have eventually ended up on the Dutchman’s Trail between First Water and Peralta.

The Boulder Canyon Trail crossed the dry bed numerous times, but tried to stay on the banks. There was one inviting pool of water on the way. After chatting up a group of college students on a 5 day backpack trip, we reached the Second Water Trail. Shortly after that, we left the creek and went up to visit the Indian Paint Mine and look around.

Finally, it was time to retrace our steps on Trail 103, northbound. That meant an excruciatingly steep climb up an endless hill in 80 degree afternoon sun. Patches of shade and occasional breezes made this bearable. This wasn’t the best trail to tackle after 7.5 miles of hiking, including a mile of boulder-hopping. It involved steep descents and long ascents, even on the way back. However, we persevered and reached the Marina at 3:00 PM after 8 hours and 11 miles of hiking.

Cold water and shoe changes, followed by copious soda and coffee on the Marina patio were a nice end to a wonderful day of hiking with good company.