I've CLIMBED higher and higher still, side-stepping lizards, sweltering under a searing midday sun, craving even the slightest sliver of shade.
I turn to gaze at the ocean, which is invitingly blue but too far away to leap into. Thankfully, it issues a sweat-cooling breeze that allows me to continue my quest to find Nicholas Pond.
I'm on the Nicholas Flat Trail within Leo Carrillo State Park in the western Santa Monica Mountains, and descriptions I've gleaned from the Internet are apt.
"This one's a real butt-kicker if you're out of shape," promises one.
"Great vistas on this hike, but you pay for them," assures another.
The eight-mile round-trip trek features an elevation gain of nearly 1,800 feet, but a payoff in the form of spectacular ocean views, a large pond if you can find it, and a return trip that is almost entirely downhill, facing the ocean.
Wise travelers will embark early or during late afternoon. Naively, I hit the trail at 1 p.m. with just one bottle of water, which I'm rationing in the manner of a wayward cowboy who missed the watering hole.
But I'm not dead yet. That tree tunnel ahead -- the first real shade, after nearly two hours afoot -- is no mirage.
I step gingerly beneath its verdant canopy and spook to flight an enormous turkey vulture, whose massive wings nearly clip my head.
I sip and rest, then emerge to discover a decreasing gradient and landscape of oaks as well as chaparral, sage and cactus.
The most difficult two-hour stretch is complete.
Ocean views are far more stunning from up high, but they're best enjoyed while stationary as the trail is a virtual minefield of lizards, and peppered here and there with rattlesnakes.
I pause to watch hummingbirds sip from bush mallow. This remote wilderness is teeming with hummingbirds, and alive with general birdsong, which cannot drown the constant buzzing of bees.
The trail is well-kept and well-marked except where a fork exists not far beyond the first sprawling meadow hikers encounter.
This is critical because those veering to the left will miss the pond.
Fortunately, I've chosen the correct path and after a long downhill journey beneath the blessed shade of oaks, the mysterious pond unfurls before me. It's surprisingly large and half-covered with red algae.
It's guarded to the right by large granite boulders atop a towering cliff, from which one can rest while pondering the vastness of the Pacific.
