Where to begin with this one. First off, the road leading up to Chantry flats was closed. As a result, my buddy and I hiked 3.3 miles and 1300ft. of gain just to get to Chantry flats. In addition, the gate was opened around 8am, as we saw passenger cars drive up as we hiked up the road. My guess is that they were 2 hours late to unlock the gate. What was supposed to be a 14mi. hike turned out to be a whopping 22.3miles and 5,670ft. gain because of the closure of the gate. My buddy wasn't conditioned to do such a task, and I felt real bad for him. He survived, but after mile 8, he wasn't a happy camper anymore. The most he had done in a day was around 10. We packed plenty of food and water, the heat wasn't much of an issue. This trail has constant shade which was quite nice. There are waterfalls along the way, and the trail is less travelled. There are also historical camps as well, they make for good resting points to fill up on water. The last part of the trail was difficult, lots of elevation gain with switchbacks. We made it up and ate some lunch. The peak is more of a plateau, and is rather anti-climactic. There are views to be seen, but the better views are on the trail on the way back down. This trail can be done on a hot day due to the shade, but I would still recommend full sun protection and 3.5 liters of water.

My buddy and I befriended 2 others at the peak, and we did the descent together to complete the 22.3 miles. It was nice being in a small group. Other than our two other friends, we only spotted 2 other people on the peak, it was rather deserted. I enjoyed the fact that the trails were unique, they were historical and they were shaded which provided a good contrast to the other trails. The peak was neat, but there was just no “wow” factor to it as the other peaks had. I'm very glad I did it, but the gate being locked and the extra mileage brought down our morale.