With my ankle slowly mending from tendon surgery I still cannot hike, but have been keen to get back to the mountains. A road trip was just the answer, six peaks in Mendocino County in a long day drive on back roads out to the coast and back.
First was Cold Spring Mountain, site of a former fire lookout, east of Point Arena, looking out over the Coast Range. From the car it was an easy walk around the gate and then a few feet up the the rocky summit. The old lookout was securely boarded up, so no views from the high platform. Also here was a slight haze, but a closeup of the forest, just under the summit benchmark, gave me the image I needed, closer and more intimate.