Day 3

Suicide Rock:
Just the name sounded bad to everyone. It started out as a normal day getting ready at the James Reserve. We got into the cars and made our way to the start of Deer Springs Trail where we got ready to get today's specimens. We set out on the hike and quickly realized that it would be a long day. While we immediately found lots of specimens it was a harsh uphill hike. After two and a half hours or so we reached the sign that warned "Suicide Rock: 1 mile." We thought we had reached the end, but the fun was just about to start! When we finally reached the top, the view was totally worth it. It was a giant rocky top, surrounded by cliffs with an amazing view of the surrounding country. We ate lunch there, everyone had something different. On the way down, we collected more specimens, and in total for the day, we collected a total of 33 plant and moss specimens. Most of which were found half a mile down from Suicide Rock junction (where the sign was) We ate dinner that night at the forest service headquarters kitchen area. But right before that we went to the annex and pressed our flowers so we could preserve them. Dinner that night was... RIBS! Ribs were a big hit with the man table. While the girls barely finished their own, Anthony, Rusty, and Robert downed slab after slab. After our feast, we hit up the local SnoCone place and everyone got a snocone, or in Robert's case, chocolate dipped icecream. On the way back to the Reserve we stopped at Vista Point. It overlooked the city of Banning and had an awesome view of everything around us for miles on end. We took pictures there and then finally called it a night.

Robert & Tony