May 23, 2019 — The road to Machesna Mountain was in surprisingly good shape (not good for 2WD), which is good because my car somehow lost a screw and rattled the whole way. I shrugged it off like the irresponsible child I am and continued to the trailhead. Unfortunately, I was hit with a wall of fog so my photos may not be particularly helpful, but I thought the somewhat poor weather added a nice mysterious touch to the hike. Otherwise, it might have been just a walk along a green SoCal ridge. Either way, I'm sure it's a lovely area. The Machesna Mountain Trail is bit odd. It shows up on Google as a road, but alternates between a wide trail, a thin and grassy trail, and a very eroded road. There were only a couple of brushy spots, but it was easy to follow and undulates along the ridge for a few miles. One area to note is toward the end when I encountered a bunch of signs pointing in all sorts of unhelpful directions. The trail leads down to a small pond, and then back up to the ridge. I left my alternative route (see map), but it was overgrown despite being the route displayed as a road on Google Maps, and not particularly interesting. Eventually after a bit more uphill, I left the trail and a rusted marker and headed west through not unpleasant bushwhacking to the summit.
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