We took on Mount Wilson, our first hike in the six-pack yesterday! We started at Chantry Flats like the website recommends at about 7am and followed the Sturtevant Trail, making a detour first to see Sturtevant falls (great waterfall after the winter rains!). The hike was quite easy and peaceful until Sturtevant camp (which was so cool — would love to have seen that place on its hay day), after which point you start to gain elevation pretty quickly. I struggled quite a bit from here on… I definitely do NOT recommend an intense workout the day before hiking. The trail did have a few felled trees and other obstacles, but nothing too difficult to manage. The views were spectacular. We finally made it to the summit around 12:00/1:00. Checked out the Wilson Observatory museum (basically just pictures of space taken with the telescope — space is cool) and then ate lunch at the picnic tables by the cafe (which was closed for the season). It had rained two days earlier so there was quite a bit of snow at the top of the mountain, but none that really impeded the trail. We followed the recommended Winter Creek trail down, which was a pretty steep descent and did have quite a few more obstacles, but was overall a nice route with beautiful trees. We followed the lower winter creek trail which was shorter in distance (and a really nice trek beside the stream) but did entail a climb at the end which my aching legs were NOT pleased with. We finished our hike around 3:30pm so not a great time, but considering it was our first hike and we really took our time, not too bad.

After the hike, drove a short 30 minutes to Monterey Park for dinner at Mama Lu’s Dumpling House. Self-described “traditional Chinese food with a Taiwanese twist”, Mama Lu served up incredible spicy pork dumplings swimming in chili oil, udon noodles with an unctuous bean paste sauce and crispy chicken, peanuts, and chilies, crispy salt and pepper shrimp, luscious pork and crab soup dumplings, and flaky scallion pancakes. I am not a lover of Chinese food, but thought this place was fantastic and couldn’t have tasted better after a long hike.

All told my iPhone said we hiked 14.9 miles, more than 42,000 steps, and 259 flights of stairs. A challenging first hike, but we are excited for the next!