I rode solo today. It was a nice day, not too warm. Which is good. Because there are no trees. At all (mostly). The trail was in decent condition- sticky green plants have overgrown onto it a bit. I would advise bringing four liters of water. I brought three but wish I would have brought another. The views were pretty, but the ratio of beauty to pain isn't quite good enough for me to repeat this hike anytime soon. Regardless, I appreciated the trail for the challenge it presented. I'm going to do all six peaks in six days, so this one is just the beginning. I'll keep ya'll updated on my body falling apart!
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Excellent! I am a SoCal Six Pack of Peaks Challenger (my fifth year). I’m looking to do the NorCal Six Pack of Peaks later this year as well. I was thinking 4 to 5 days. Since you are attempting it in six days, I would be interested to hear your recommendations when you are done. Also, I think I would have gone with “Rosy Cheeks on Rose Peak!” :p Good luck!
Hello Philip! I remembered that you wanted to hear my recommendations regarding doing the Norcal Six Pack in 4-5 days. I will say up front that it would be very difficult to accomplish the Six Pack in 4 days. Five, however, is possible with some determination.
Potential five day schedule:
Day 1: Mt. Umunhum and Mt. St. Helena. Spend the night either near Mt. Umunhum and Mt. St. Helena to minimize driving time. I would advise staying in Calistoga by Helena because the park is open from sunrise to sunset. At Umunhum the gate opens at 7 am and you’re going to want to start as early as possible. The peaks are around two and a half hours apart from each other but are the two easiest peaks and likely the easiest way to do two peaks in one day, even with the long drive. Start early, finish the 10 easy miles at Mt. St. Helena. With a quick pace you can finish this hike around 3.5 hours. If you start hiking at 6 am this puts you back at your car around 10 am. Three hour drive plus lunch puts you at Umunhum around 1:30 pm. 7.7 more easy miles and you have finished two peaks and 17.7 miles in one day.
Day 2: Mt. Diablo. 13 steep miles. Clockwise is a long fire road nearly to the top. Counter clockwise is a steep, intense trail. I went counter clockwise and would do so again. This was the third hardest hike but the shortest one left, which might be nice after the long first day. If you don’t need an easier day I would do Rose Peak here.
Day 3: Mt. Sizer. This was the hardest hike in my opinion. It’s 16 miles of constant elevation change, either up or down. You have to go clockwise so you can hike up Shortcut Trail. This is apparently known as the steepest trail in the Bay. 1.4 miles with 1,400 ft of elevation. It is pretty steep.
Day 4: Mt. Tamalpais. This hike is the best hike. It is 16.5 miles that aren’t too difficult. Enjoy this day. It is gorgeous.
Day 5: Rose Peak. I recorded 18.4 miles. This is an exposed trail with not much to see. Bleh. Please note that it is closed right now due to Covid.
If you wanted to do this in 4 days you would have to do the Umunhum (6th hardest) with Diablo (3rd hardest) and St. Helena (5th hardest) with Tamalpais (4th hardest). Those are days of 20.9 miles and 26.5 miles with two hour drives in between the mountains. It’s up to you if you want to try it.
Good luck!
This is great information Garrett. Thank you for taking the time to respond and providing recommendations. I was looking at something similar to what you said. Hitting Mount Umunhum on the way up north and then hitting Mt. St. Helena (Day 1). Then I was leaning towards doing Mt. Tamalpais (Day 2). Mount Diablo (Day 3). Rose Peak (Day 4). And Mount Sizer (Day 5).
Thoughts?
You’re welcome! That sounds perfect if you want to do the peaks in ascending order of difficulty.
Good luck on those last two days. I would advise bringing no less than four liters of water per day. Five is probably preferable.
That’s definitely a better title. Flows off the tongue nicely. I will update you when I am finished!