My wife (Joan) and I started our 2019 SoCal Six-Pack of Peaks with a casual day hike to the Mt. Wilson summit.  We started from the Chantry Flats parking lot (2,150′) at 6:25AM with clear blue skies and a light cool breeze. Our trail was the Upper Winter Creek trail (via The Bench) to the summit.

The 2-mi. hike (about 1 hr) to Hoegee's Camp (2,500′) was a nice warm-up for the more challenging ascent to The Bench. Along the way, we saw some beautiful wildflowers and many singing birds early in the morning. Lotsa bugs (flies and mosquitos) between Hoegee's Camp and The Bench (4,470′), but nothing that a little bug spray couldn't handle. We reached The Bench at 9:10am and took a nice 20-min break to hydrate and enjoy a few snacks.

The next stretch from The Bench to Mt. Wilson Rd. was quick and easy as we continued on with only a few brief rest breaks.  After leaving Mt. Wilson Rd. for the final 0.5-mi., we saw quite a bit of burned trees and brush from a recent hillside fire.  Joan and I were really pooped-out when we finally reached the summit at about 10:20am. We were rewarded by a beautiful view of the entire LA basin, Santiago Peak, and Catalina Is.

To our pleasant surprise, we didn't see ANYONE the entire way up and down on the trail.  Unbeknownst to us, there had been a bear scare on the lower road to Chantry Flats. As a result, the CA Fish & Game officials had closed the road (shortly after 6AM) to incoming traffic.  It was a great hike and wonderful way to start our 2019 Six-Pack of Peaks adventures.