“Though she be but little, she is fierce!”
Spoken by Helena, Midsummer Night’s Dream Act 3, Scene 2
St. Helena is the patron saint of difficult marriages, divorced people, and archaeologists, but I saw none of them up on the mountain last weekend. Her feast day is August 18th, but I hear it can get pretty hot up there during the summer months (most of the trail is exposed fire road). St. Helena is also the name of the island where Napoleon spent his 2nd exile, and it felt a bit more like that with zero other hikers on the trail from 7am when I started to 11am when I got back down to my car at the trailhead.
It was a cold, foggy morning when I did this hike, which meant zero visibility but some cool (literally and figuratively) fog blanketing the whole mountain. It’s about a mile of single-track switchbacks until you hit the fire road, then that winds up another 4 miles to the summit. I definitely want to come back when I have more time to explore some of the surrounding trails and features (like the Power Circles), and when there is a better view. It was very windy at the top, so highly recommend a wind breaking layer and possibly gloves.
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