There is a $5 day use fee for hiking from Pine Springs campground. It is self paid, meaning you put your money in an envelope and drop it in a pay stall. I only started up in the dark because my daughter wanted to visit White Sands Missile Base and the only way to make that work was to summit at sunrise. I love sunrise photos, though, so it wasn't an issue. About a mile up the trail, I saw two green eyes looking at me from between two boulders. It was a small feline, probably a baby bobcat or mountain lion. I tried to get a photo in the dark, but it didn't show anything.
The summit was spectacular. It was capped with a stainless steel pyramid placed by American Airlines in 1958 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Butterfield Overland Mail, a stagecoach route that passed south of the mountain. There was an incredible view of El Capitan, the prominent cliffed peak below.
On the way down, I stopped to search the area where I saw the green eyes, but there were no signs of a den or anything. Just before I got to the bottom, a huge buck ran across the trail and started eating leaves from a tree. It was a perfect ending to the hike. More details here...
