This was one hike I did not expect: from the terrain to the views, the whole thing was a really cool and fun surprise. I got together with my standard hiking buddy, John (yes, I know, John and John). We pulled into the tiny little parking lot at 9am, put on our day packs, and set off onto the steps of the Stevenson Memorial trail (which were literally steps, and I hate stairs, but love hiking, and I will swear to this day that hiking up a hill is better than climbing stairs).

After traversing through a mile of switchbacks, some of which needed you to climb a couple of rocks here and there, it opened up on an unpaved fire road. Little did I know, that this fire road was what we were going to be walking on for the rest of the hike, and while I don't usually care to walk on fire roads, this one was actually pretty solid. After about a quarter mile on the fire road, we saw a fox hanging out on the first major bend on the trail, which was just above the forest we had come out of. As we got closer to the edge, the fox bolted (no, we do not know what it said), and came upon the first awesome view of the hike. We were already much higher up than we thought, still had about 4 miles to go, and already couldn't believe the sites. We could see all of Calistoga, Napa and Sonoma counties, and all the way to the ocean. Excited for what the rest of the views were going to be, we eagerly continued on.

We passed very few people on the trail: one set of rock climbers, a few trail runners, and that was about it. While the views continued to get better and better, the next 4 miles were a pretty easy trek up the fire road. The whole trail was completely exposed, and we needed to re-apply sunscreen multiple times throughout the hike.

On the last quarter mile, we looked up and saw the final push: a nice steep climb up to the summit (conveniently topped with a satellite tower). We were definitely feeling the heat and the sun, we pushed through to get to the top. Once there, we came upon the little rock ledge that was clearly the overlook, and that overlook did not disappoint. It was one of the best views I've seen in the Northern Bay area, and well worth the 5.25 mile hike.

This is definitely one hike you should go and do, but just remember apply (and re-apply) your sunscreen and bring lots of water!