Holy Mother of Mountains, Peak #1! It was beautiful day. The weather and trail conditions were perfect. It was a cool day with a high of 52 (supposedly), but with our bodies moving, we stayed warm.

I was hiking with my daughters ages 14 and 11 along with our best friends and their two daughters. We arrived at the parking lot at 6:25am and all of the spots were taken. I think we missed a spot by one minute. But it's ok because we parked on the street, just outside the lot. After taking a biological break, we began our hike down the paved road, along the creek and past some cabins around 6:45am. When we made it to the trail that begins the climb, we took the trail to the right. I HIGHLY recommend taking the trail to right as you hike up the mountain. It would be a bit difficult to hike down due to it being quite rocky and steep. Plus, you will miss the upper trail on the way back down which takes you another 3 scenic miles back to Chantry Flats and spills out at the picnic tables. This path helps you avoid the treacherous 45 degree angle half mile paved road back up to the parking lot.

The trail on the right can be deceiving and easy to miss. A large boulder sits about 30 feet in, at the beginning of the trail, so it looks like the trail is blocked. Just step up, over it and voila…you will begin the hike along the creek and top of water falls. You will see several water falls along the way. We had to watch our step carefully because the trail in this section is very narrow with a steep drop straight down on one side. There were also spots where we were scaling walls. Although it was a little scary at times, it is was gorgeous and pleasing to all of my senses.

Once we made it past this area, the trail opened up which felt much safer. We eventually made it to a camping area where about a dozen tents were set up. People were beginning to wake up, drink coffee and make breakfast. There were also a couple of huts in this area to relieve ourself, but we chose not to because it stunk something awful. We did stop at a picnic table and enjoyed a snack.

After about a 20 minute break, we continued toward Sturtavent camp which was just past the camp area with tents. When visiting this camp, make sure you visit the first ranger station built in 1903. It is now a small museum. The lady who runs the camp had complementary tea and oatmeal packs for anyone who wanted some. I took advantage of her offer and drank some tea with my friend. Our daughters took advantage of this time and played on the large swing and zipline. It was a nice break before the big ascend.

This is where difficulty kicks in. The next 2.8 miles is ALL uphill. My thighs were burning and my teenage daughter was complaining and crying. Suddenly I became “the worst mother in the world” for making her go on this hike. But I was lucky to experience her melt down on the mountain because she said the best line of the day, and I had the best Mom come back of the century. My daughter: “I feel like a 44 year old lady. I am falling apart!” Me: “Well you have something to look forward to because I just turned 45 and I feel great! See, thing will get better. You will be my age before you know it.” Yup…that shut her up.

Then it happened, we saw the top, hiked a little further and made it! Even my daughter felt incredibly accomplished. We refilled water bottles and topped off camel backs, before we made our way to the pavilion where Cosmos cafe is located. By the way, the cafe is still closed but should re-open in April. We sat at a table in the sun which kept us warm and ate our lunch. The bathrooms at the very top are clean with toilet seat covers and toilet paper. It was quite nice.

After hanging out at the top for about 45 minutes, we continued over to the main parking lot and look out. You will find the USGS marker and the “In Memory of Benjamin Davis Wilson” plaque. We took our victory photos and soaked in the view, which was beginning to be taken over by clouds. We continued on the trail making the loop around. The trailhead is located where the parking lot and the viewing point meet.

This trail is not marked very well, but once you are on it, it is pretty self explanatory except when you get to the very nice wood bench. I will get to that shortly. This area suffered a fire back in October 2017. The trail took us through the burnt spooky forest. It looked like something out of a Tim Burton movie. Although it was sad to see, it was actually quite beautiful seeing the formations that mother nature and a natural disaster created. We walked past some fairly new (that's my understanding) fire breaks and eventually came to a very nice modern wood bench near a tree that has a plaque on it. There is a trail to the left and a trail to the right. To get back to Chantry, take the trail on the left which is called Winter Creek Trail.

We continued down this trail and I suddenly felt pain in my knees and toes. My thighs began to burn like the forest we just past through. But I am strong and I was not going to let pain get the best of me. Plus, I didn't want my teenage daughter to know I was aching. LOL! Once we made it closer to the bottom near the creek again, we had a choice to take the Upper Trail to the right or continue on Winter Creek trail which leads back to the paved road which would have been brutal to walk up. We chose the additional three mile trail to the right. There is a sign that will point you in different directions. The trail to the right is 3 miles long but it is beautiful.

As we began our home stretch, the Upper Trail took us back up the Mountain a bit and then it was pretty level with a little up and down until it eventually began a very casual descend which ended at the picnic tables located at the top of the parking lot. YAY! We did it! My teenage daughter also had a great time on the descend. Once we arrived home, she asked me which peak we were doing next. I guess I am now super Mom. Success!

Te entire hike took us 8 hours and 12 seconds. By the time we touched down at the parking lot, we hiked 15 miles. I look forward to the next peak, but first I rest my sore body.