Category: 2019 NorCal

Rough and Tough Rose

Was feeling the holiday malaise and was going to skip this one but my better half convinced me to finish! It rained yesterday so the…

Mt Sizer Summit

It was chilly for our early start. And the 14.5 mile Mt Sizer Loop is a butt kicker. Availability of pit toilets was nice. Lots…

Mt St Helena and DONE

A clear but chilly day, perfect weather for this trail.  Not a difficult hike at all, but just under 10 miles.  Great cell reception at…

SIZER do Matter

The most challenging peak !!!!! I have done the 12 SoCal Peaks and all 5 NorCal peaks, but this one… Mt Sizer is incomparable!!!! The…

Winter on Diablo

Final hike. I managed to squeeze it in just before the year has ended. I am feeling rather good about having the discipline to finish…

Longest Hike on the Shortest Day

The shortest day of the year presented a fantastic, dry day to take on the longest peak of all. Green pastures (already!) and friendly cows…

Nearly a Photo Finish

Weather cooperated for good hiking day.  Mostly overcast with temps in the 50s, colder and windy at Rose Peak.  Had good hiking partner who pulled…

Mt D #5 for me 😍

This was #5 for me and #6 for my hiking buddy, Sue, who didn’t sign up, but loved the challenge so much she will probably…

Best for last! Rose peak!

This was my first solo hike over ten miles! I averaged a 16.30 min/mile pace and finished the hike in 5:06:00 moving and 5:48:00 total.…

Rainy Rose

We hiked to the Sunol Backpackers camp and stayed the night in Eagles Aeyrie.  The wind kicked up about midnight and blew hard all night…

Mt Sizer Private Showing

I had a great hike on Mt Sizer Tuesday.  It was a “private showing” of Henry Coe State Park – I didn’t see anyone else…

Up High

It was a clear and beautiful day.

Mt Sizer and Magical Manzanitas

Weather was perfect today. Started the hike clockwise—serious uphills both coming and going. The manzanitas were beautiful with new growth contrasted with old. Didn’t see…

Chilly and blustery on Rose Peak

Rose Peak, from Sunol. 19 miles and 4000 foot vertical. Chilly and blustery hike. 53 weeks after my previous time here, and alot colder! Four…

Arise to Rose 🌹

Started 9am, beautiful sunny sky with the occasional clouds floating by. Perfect hiking weather for such a challenging elevation gain; just a bit cold, but…

Piece of cake for the holidays

Took advantage of a break from the rain to get in my final hike of the peak series.  In December, it is a no sweat…

Hell Did Indeed Freeze Over

Bundle up! The weather was VERY cold and windy, but we sucked it up and got on the mountain over the last weekend before we…

Mt Diablo In The Cold

Our final hike of the pack, Mt Diablo, is also the first major hike we did after signing up for the Everest Base Camp trek…

Mt St helena summit

Gorgeous views of the valley, which was socked in with fog. Trail was wet from recent rains but that didn’t affect our hike. Beautiful sunny…

Mount sizer

Beautiful hike with my fellow Ironman! We stopped for two lunches and had a great time. Mount sizer doesn’t seem to have a specific “peak”…

There and back again

I knew this hike was hard having done  the Ohlone trail 2 years ago and it was just as hard as I remember. Not a lot…

Mt. Tam

Today was a great hike day for Mt. Tam.  There was a little bit of everything: sun, overcast, fog, lush green, and fall colors. Overall…

Rain on Rose

Hiking Rose was something I wasn’t quite looking forward to.  Last year I hiked it on Christmas Eve and it was a miserable rainy day…

Slick Madrones

Beautiful madrones and manzanitas on the way up during a partly cloudy, foggy, & rainy hike up to the Radar Station. A short but sweet…

Final Peak in the Challenge

I hiked this with two of my friends. We saved the longest hike for the grand finale. In retrospect, we should have made it an…

St Helena Day Trip

It was kind of eerie hiking here. There was fog on the way up and no animals were around anywhere. Trees were burned and black…

Borg Cube

Foggy most of the way up with breaks in the clouds along the way, but fogged in at the top.  No wind and temps in…

Quiet solitude to finish

I chose to do this last hike solo. It was by far the most challenging, but it was serene, and needed. I asked several friends,…

Surprise Snow on Mt. St. Helena

Great trail for the first ~1+mile before getting onto the fireroads. Intermittent snow until the last mile to the summit, then fairly consistent snow/ice on…

Snowy at the Top of Rose peak

It was a beautiful hike, great views the entire way. While it took longer then sizer to complete (total time of 8hr, 5 min including…

Turkey Burn Tam

Started at 8:30am, made it to Pantoll by 10am.  This was the hardest part of the hike but also the most beautiful!  All the ferns,…

Mt. Sizer…Five Down, 1 To Go

What a wonderful way to spend my Thanksgiving. I woke up early and headed to Henry W. Coe Park to tackle my fifth mountain for…

Double Diablo Hike

I hiked this Mtn last October and was able to conquer Twin peak and eagle peak but had to turn around because my hiking buddy…

Winterland of Helena

What a beautiful hike after the first snow fall winter. I had 3 layers. It was cold but warm enough when I kept moving. It…

Family Sizer hike!

My family hiked this peak with me! We knew it would be hard, and it was one one of the furthest away for us, so…

Day at Diablo

Gorgeous hike today—brisk with  Fall in full bloom.  Definitely a challenge but the vistas made it all worthwhile.

Up, Down, Up, Down…repeat, repeat

No matter which way you hike this, it’s brutal! My legs are so sore! We went counterclockwise, so we started with a down hill then…

Mt. Sizer

A very challenging hike but definitely worth it.

The long road

Trail was good. Open without any cover. Ran into a baby rattler. The wind at the top was welcome relief. Long, long road of not…

Fun Sizer Finale

Fun Sizer is what we call this beautiful State Park hike. And my final hike on the challenge.  I was prepared for an all out…

ROSE PEAK

I wanted to set a challenge for myself on this trek. I had only hiked as far as 16 miles in one day in my…

Mt. Sizer: Butt Kicker

We hiked into Sada Springs for the night, then got up early to peak hike up to Sizer.  For all the great signage at this…

Mt. Sizer Death March

So I knew this hike was gonna be hard and I think subconsciously I was avoiding it even though I want to complete the challenge.…

Mt St Helena

This was a wonderful way to cap off our 6-hike challenge. We drive out to Santa Rosa and stayed in an AirBNB the night before.…

Wine Country Cardio

I previously logged this hike but it displayed as “Umunhum” and I was unable to edit it.

Mt. Saint Helena-lapalooza

A beautiful day with fellow hikers, followed by wine tasting and uber delicious fare at Yeti (Indian/Nepalese) in Glen Ellen.     10.8 miles with 2,195…

Helena

Saved the easiest for last. Wanted to do it in snow, but didn’t happen. Nice easy stroll up fireroad with pleasant view at end.

Fabulous Fall Day on Mt Diablo

Wow! What a great day with perfect weather, good trails and amazing views. Got there early hoping the gates would open before 8am and sure…

Wine Country Cardio

While spared by the recent and very close Kincaid fire, there is ample evidence of past fire fighting efforts along the route.  With a wide…

Comarades

Rolling hills upon rolling hills! Mount Rose seems to be eluding us. But with shear determination and grit we conquered this Beast together with some…

Steeped in it…Sea to summit

Stretch it out and leave some in the tank for the descent…emerge from the bath of trees to be rewarded with beautiful views.

RLS

Unseasonably warm and beautiful hike with great friends. Shorts still the best for hiking this late in the year!

Mount Saint Helena

This was our final of the 6 peaks. Unfortunately we have gone down to two from our original group of four due to injury, so…

Saint Helena of Troy

Beautiful day and views all the way to the top.  Somehow wandered off the trail near the bottom and bushwacked down some steep slopes, but…

Tam from Mill Valley

Parked near Mill Valley center, walked up Summit Ave to Temelpa Trailhead, Temelpa to the east peak.  Fun trail that goes rather directly up to…

Mt Tam gives me all the feels

Mount Tamalpais is definitely one of the most beautiful hikes of all the six pack and maybe in the Bay Area.  It just has so…

Stinson to Tam

Beautiful. Long but its nice how often terrain changes.

Gorgeous Views from Rose Peak

Not going to kid you, this is a tough vertical hike! We did it over two days and stayed at Maggie’s Half Acre Camp summiting…

Long Rose Peak

We got a little delayed with rental car hang ups, but hit the trail early enough at 8:40am. We weren’t sure what to expect for…

Relaxing 20 Miler

This is a really fun hike. With a trek this long, we zoned out for miles at a time and it felt meditative at times.…

Mt. Sizer is a BEAST

This was a hell of a hike—-gorgeous, breathtaking and very hard. The oak trees are majestic. The trails are well kept and easy to traverse.…

Not Rosey

This was a long hike and definitely not a rosey hike.  Encountered numerous cows and a lot of cow wastes on the ground, so literally…

Mt. Tam…4 down, 2 to go

What a wonderful train run/hike. I was feeling like I might not get this challenge done, but when I saw the Mt. Tam Trail Run…I…

Mystical Terran

Feeling stronger as the list gets smaller. I think this is my favorite one of all on the list so far. You get sand, fog,…

Mount What’s it Called

Where the hell is this place? And what is it called again and how do you pronounce it? U-mun-hum? Amunhum? Umuhumn? Ahmumum? Hummus? Does that…

Mt Sizer Sizzler

All day hike, the loop of mt sizer.  Gorgeous sunny day fall day, a little warm but totally doable.  Great views along blue ridge –…

Whistling cat of Maggies 1/2 Acre

This was the toughest of the 6 – and since the last, I had experienced all the others.  Maybe about same vertical as Mount Sizer…

Sunrise on Rose Peak

Final peak for our team “Dusty Hiking Boots”! This was a tough hike with steep verticals. We enjoyed stopping for lunch at Schleipper Rock and…

Bobcat! and so much scat!!

Warm day and a intense hike!! What a difference from the third peak to the fourth. Serious inclines and descents. Not a lot of flats.…

Mt. Umunhum

Decided to make a long day of it and parked at Hicks parking lot.  Started on the Woods trail then to Barlow Road trail, to…

Rose Peak Quads Buster

Probably the toughest hike of all the peaks, mainly due to the distance involved – approx. 20 miles! A group of 10 started at 8…

Take the Stairs to Tam

Beautiful hike with varying terrain and views— ocean, redwood trees, streams…just gorgeous! The day was perfect; we had to postpone this hike due to the…

Best weather ever at Mt Tam!

Been quite a few years since I hiked at/near Mt Tam, and as always I loved it. Weather was wonderful. Make sure you take the…

Diablo on a perfect day

Mount Diablo was amazing, as usual.  A friend asked to go on a challenging hike and I decided Diablo would be a good one. We…

Sunol Slog

A quite chilly morning turned into a warm Autumn day and beautiful evening. Landscape is now bleak. Discovered praying mantis’ and a tarantula enjoying the…

Sized up Sizer

What a beautiful awe inspiring hike! We didn’t see anyone until the end when we approached headquarters. There is so much wildlife in this park;…

A Peaceful Day on Mt Sizer

This was quite a hike, a lot of steep elevation gain. For the first 10-12 miles of the loop I did not  see another human…

Sweet victory at scaling Mt Rose!

This was the final peak of the challenge and my friend and I decided to do it on the day before daylight saving time ended…

Rose Peak Quad Burner

The group of 11 took just under 10 hours to complete the 20 miles and 4500 feet elevation gain + loss round trip.  This route…

Oops! We did it again!

So, Mount Umunhum is suppose to be a moderate 8-mile loop tops! However, we discovered midway through our hike that we had parked at the…

Some Umunhum Yummana

Mt Umunhum is a long and peaceful hike. I was in the company of some seasoned 2019 Nor Cal Six Pack Peak Challenge finishers. And…

Finished with Rose Peak

We started off early at the trailhead and planned to go uphill for 5-6 hours and return. We set out with a goal to head…

Golden Hour Run on Mt Tam

I’ve hiked up Mt Tam several times this year – all the way from Stinson Beach or from Mill Valley. But I chose to log…

Rising on Rose

We should not have been out there. When we arrived the power was out and the guy at the kiosk said there was no charge…

Rose Peak

This was probably not the wisest choice in terms of when to hike this particular trail. It was during fire season, on an especially high-risk…

Wildlife abounds!

One of the best Bay Area hikes! Coastal drive, sunrise fog, views of SF, magestic redwoods, stops with bathrooms and water, pristine trails, and plenty…

Rose Peak

This is the longest hike of the 6 peaks in Nor CA. I would suggest to do it in Spring when the hills would be…

Mt. Tamalpais

Mt. Tam is one of my favorite mountains, the view is spectacular, this time the weather was very good but quite smoky, that day there…

Mt. Tamalpais

Great Hike and scenery, the weather was very good but quite smoky, that day there were many fires in the area, closing access to many…

How can return from peak be uphill?

We had reasonably cool weather and a slight breeze for this long day-hike.  This is one of the most desolate park headquarters I have been…

Rose Peak Wrap Up

Gorgeous hike with a surprising amount of foliage, and a solid amount of distance from the rest of the world.

“Really Just a Knoll” Sizer

My friends and I had a nice day…the weather was clear and sunny…but I must say that this was our least favorite “peak” and hike…

Monte del Diablo

I got a late start (around 11am) but was able to reach the peak in roughly two hours. I entered the park from the South…

Seized Sizee

Hiked with 2 other friends. Felt like the toughest of all 6 peaks but survived it. If you have a knee trouble then advice to…

Panoramic Summit in Mill Valley

Spectacular panoramic views from the East Peak Summit today. Gotta love fall in the Bay Area aka the summer that won’t quit.

Mt. Saint Helena

Great hike with a friend today! Weather was fantastic, clear enough to see Mt. Tam, Mt. Diablo and even San Francisco in the distance! Parking…

Not just for wine lovers!

Great hike in the wine country! The drive there was just as relaxing and beautiful as the view from the summit. Stevenson Memorial Trail is…

Mt Tam Solo

Had to do this one solo without my buddies, since i missed the date!  Was a gorgeous day, spectacualr views from the top!  Loved the…

Hot Hot St. Helena

I hiked this trail with a friend. It was very exposed. Lots of sunshine and vitamin D. The trail is a little boring as it…

#5 of 6 Mount Diablowwwww

A beautiful butt kicker of a hike with changing elevations, rolling hills and 360 deg views of the bay.

MOUNT SIZER

I was slightly nervous for this hike due to the nature of it being mostly on fire roads and my hesitation was met with confirmation.…

Mount St. Helena

It was a super windy and Sunny day, many burned fallen trees blocking the fire road, awesome views during the trail, made an unforgettable experience…

Mount St. Helena

It was a super windy and Sunny day, many burned fallen trees blocking the fire road, awesome views during the trail, made an unforgettable experience…

Mt Umunhum

Solo day hike to finally begin the challenge.

The most beautiful….Mt.Tamalpais!

One of the most beautiful hikes I have ever done and definitely the most beautiful of all 6 peaks! Definitely strenuous but totally worth it…

Scorched But Recovering

The last of  the Peaks  to complete the challenge was Mt St Helena. We car camped at Bothe State Park on Thursday night  through Sunday…

Mt St Helena

A pretty easy, but gorgeous hike. The views were spectacular!!! A great way to round out the challenge.

Tarantula Mating Season

Mount Diablo: Woo! I’m so stoked, 4/6 of the NorCal six peak challenge completed! We started at 8am with some pretty chilly temperatures at the…

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