Rose Peak was not rosy nor was there anything about it that would have made someone come away feeling fresh, carefree, energized or smelling of flowers!

We both drove down the night before recognizing the hike was in Livermore and the longest of all the hikes. Got energized the night before taking Instagram worthy photos of the snacks we were going to take on the hike. This was the first of two enjoyable moments of the entire trip.

We woke up on Saturday and started out late (of course), and got on the trail around 8:30 am. Immediately, started on a hill and realized we should have bathed ourselves in bug repellent because the mosquitoes were nasty and so BIG!

It was a hot day and one could feel it in the air. Three runners passed us which humbled us about our own physical capabilities. Got lost as per usual. Got un-lost.

We hiked and hiked and hiked. Finally made it to the top, which had to sign that said summit, but according to the map is the summit. Stopped for water at one of the camps. BRING A WATER FILTER THAT WORKS. Ours was sooooo slow in filtering the camp water that is probably why we got delayed.

We made it back around 10:00 pm at night, pitch dark, and happy one of us brought a headlamp. Highly recommend you bring a headlamp. Realize we did almost a full marathon of walking, about 24.7 miles, which is why we stayed overnight again because we were in no shape to drive back up north. This was the second most happiest moment of the day, finishing the hike and going to sleep in a nice clean bed after showering off all the direct and mosquito bites. We realized that if we would have done this hike first, we would have probably been not compelled to do any of the other hikes. Don't leave this hike for last, stick it somewhere in the middle. Now only three more to do!