COVID-19 Perspective: We had the trail completely to ourselves! As we were pulling away from trailhead two cars showed up but the trail was fairly wide in most places to allow for social distancing, with only a few places where it was too narrow to provide distancing.
The Trail:
- Length: 4.6 miles
- Moving Time: 02:13:22
- Elevation Gain: 817 feet
- Difficulty Rating: Easy
- Trail Surface: Packed dirt and some rock
- Areas of Caution: At the top there were some steeper areas where we would not let the kids roam too far but for the most part the peak was flat with lots of room to move around.
- Running Wild: The only thing that stopped us from letting them run too wild and free was the evidence of large animals. One couple that pulled into the trailhead as we were leaving carried a firearm and I suspect this is for good reason.
What’s in it for the Kids: Lots of space to roam around up top for exploring and prime picnicking.
What’s in it for the Adults: The hike was nice and easy, with pretty awesome views from the top. The ease of the hike was a plus, as the kids were able to tackle it no problem.
Overall Rating: 7/10 – I prefer more of a challenge from a hike, which is why this one is rated a little lower but you cannot go wrong getting to the top of any mountain.
We had a slower start this morning and hit the road by 6:30 am. We had planned a longer hike but were not feeling overly motivated and decided to go for a shorter and easier hike. Biff and I purchased new hiking shoes the previous day because his just were not comfortable for him and mine had deteriorated enough overtime that I had gotten some pretty hideous blisters over the past two days. We were both pretty excited to try out our new shoes! On our drive to the trailhead we saw a Mountain Lion run across the road – it was incredibly awesome!!
The first portion of the trail was mostly flat and straight through the forest. After a quick ascent we reached Queen Lake. This was a small lake in the middle of the forest, which looked so peaceful and secluded that I really wished we could have camped there.
From there it was a rather steady climb to the top. The trail itself transitioned from hard packed dirt to more dust/sand with rocks (big and small) scattered throughout. We even saw a huge pile of bear poop! From there on out we made sure to make tons of noise singing songs from the Sound of Music and telling silly fart and poop jokes.
Our first “peak” was not actually the top but a nice ridgeline with awesome views. From there we could see another higher portion of the mountain and made our way there.
The peak was awesome! We found two geological markers!!! Blaze is quite fond of geological markers and when Biff found the second one, he was so proud to be able to show his daddy his AMAZING find! We also found the remains of an old wood structure with broken glass, bullet casings, screws, wood planks, etc. The peak was flat and allowed for exploring, which we took full advantage of and stayed exploring and snacking for 45 minutes, give or take.
Three days prior, someone from California placed a can with a jar, notebook, and pencil as a peak register. We were only the second group to sign!
On our way back down the mountain we sang Christmas songs with our own versions, including poop and fart talk, picking on one another the entire time. Dad is VERY talented! We saw one couple pull into the trailhead as we were leaving and several other cars heading up the mountain as we travelled down. Looks like we were there at the right time and had the place to ourselves!
Thank you for joining us on our little adventure! Hiking does wonders for our soul, contact with nature in general does and at this point in our journey I could finally feel the stress melting away. It almost seemed like the pandemic was no longer a part of our lives – if only we could bottle that feeling up and take it with us everywhere. As always, take care, stay safe and HAPPY HIKING!!
Hiking with Kids! 