Chasing Waterfalls

Peak	Mt Wilson
Group	N/A
Trailhead	Chantry Flats

Going through this hike, I wanted to do everything right compared to the last time hiking this last year. I tackled this hike last year through the Lower Winter Creek Trail and then through Hoegee’s Campground. However, I missed the Upper Creek Winter Trail and pretty much hiked uphill again near the end of the hike. Also, I came in around 8am and parking was horrible so that was pretty much an extra two miles to my hike.

This time around hiking Mt. Wilson was much more easy-going. I arrived at Chantry Flats a little after 6am with much parking to choose from. I started going through the Lower Winter Creek Trail and took a stop at the Sturtevant Falls after the big Lucifer Storm. There was a couple of river-crossings to get to the falls, but with waterproof shoes it wasn’t too much of a problem. The waterfall was gorgeous and I can feel the mist on my face. I backtracked a bit to take the Falls trail where you can get to the top of the falls and continue on the Sturtevant Trail to Mt. Wilson. The Falls trail portion was a lot of crossing of rivers and climbing some rocks. Half the time I questioned why I took this path and not the horse trail path, but then I keep seeing views of beautiful waterfalls and my mind was changed. Once I crossed the Sturtevant Camp, the trail got super steep and tedious, but 3 miles later I got to the top and was surprised to still see some snow around the observatory.

At the top I found out the bathroom and Cosmic Cafe are closed for the season. However, there was a portable bathroom nearby and the Cosmic Cafe still had free hot chocolate and coffee available for hikers. After I ate lunch and drank two cups of hot cocoa, I took my favorite picture of Mt. Wilson plaque with my hiking boots. After enjoying some sunlight, I head back down through the Sierra Madre trail and made my way through the Upper Winter Creek Trail. To my surprise, the uphill part of the Winter Creek Trail was so much better than tackling through the Lower Creek Trail. The hike back to Chantry Flats was pretty quick. I did fall once on back from some wet rocks and rebounded pretty fast. Despite my clumsy fall, my first hike of this Six Pack Peak Challenge was good way to start it off.