I was wanting to do this hike on a not so warm day as most of the blogs or reviews related to the hike warned about how hot the weather can be during late spring to summer. I kept checking the mountain forecast for few weeks prior, before declaring to the group with a 2 day notice for the trip. An hour and half drive from the Bay Area therefore, we had to leave pretty early to beat the heat and get a spot at the parking lot. The weather above 3000 feet elevation showed temperature in mid 60’s in the am.

The early morning drive through the Napa wineries was refreshing. Anyways we reached the Stevenson memorial trail head parking lot at around little before 8 am and thus managed to get a parking spot. Otherwise would have had to park on the roadside (Highway 29), as the trail head is just by the highway across the parking lot actually. We started at about 8.00 am. The start of the trail has some shades which was very helpful on our return trip as the temperature was already rising but was not expected. Most part of the trail after about less than a mile is a fire trail and we could see several burnt patches as we continued our ascent. These were the blocks of vegetation that got devastated by fires from recent years. And also noticed that as we were approaching the summit there were lots of rock formations that reminded us that this area is composed of the 2.5 million year old volcanic rock from the Clear Lake volcanic field. It took us little over 2 hours or more to reach the summit. There were a very few hikers at the time. Also while going up we did not see much traffic except for I think 4 or 5 hikers/runners. It was good to be at the summit finally. We spent around 35 minutes clicking some snaps and enjoying our snacks trying to catch glimpses of Mount Shasta and the beautiful Napa wineries below. But due to scattered clouds still hanging over the horizon, Mount Shasta or any of the iconic Sierra points were not visible actually. There was a cool breeze at the summit but the temperature was starting to rise pretty fast.

As we headed back to the trail head we decided to go by the South Peak which we crossed on our way up. We quickly hiked up and down the extra mile. But don’t expect much on this peak. It could be a disappointment. As we headed down the temperature was creeping up and I could imagine what it would be like doing this trail during summer months. Still, we came across quite a handful of hiking enthusiasts making their way up, not caring much about the temperature.  I would suggest to skip the South Peak in summer if anyone ever plans to add. With Sun at its peak we could feel the heat until we reached the last shaded mile before reaching the parking lot. It was around 1.00 pm.