Romero Canyon hike

I hiked up to the top of Romero Canyon today. I've tried twice before, but took a wrong turn the first time (still had a decent hike) and ran out of water the second time (forcing me to turn back). This is a steep hike with what I estimate was a 16 mile round trip - 5 miles up to the fire road (option to cross the fire road to Blue Canyon trail) plus 3 miles along the fire road before I decided it wasn't going to descend into the correct canyon, and then retrace steps. That's quite different than the guide book. Im sure that I could have cut that trip down had I known a bit more about the local trails. Zzzzz.