Mount St Helena
Hike Review:
The first mile of this trail is a fully-shaded, narrow trail with a terminus that intersects the aptly named Mount Saint Helena Trail. The former has stretches with lots of rock sticking out of it, so you have to slow down to navigate it. The latter trail is a fully exposed road that has almost zero shade (except for a short 1/4 mile stretch).
The trail has loose gravel and rocks and can be slippery going downhill.
The trail maintains a steady pace of ascent throughout the entire hike. The rate is about 500 ft of ascent for every mile.
What I Learned:
On a bright sunny day, 50 degrees feels like 60 degrees, and I don’t need to carry so much clothes. This is a lesson I feel like that I’m not learning this year.
I ate a small breakfast (oatmeal) before starting, and it helped me keep my pace steady without any crashing. I think in the future, I’ll try to remember to eat a small breakfast on days where I’m expected to expend a good amount of energy.
Maybe it was because I hiked at a slower pace, or because I ate breakfast, but this hike did not tire me at all. I felt like I could go for another loop of this hike at the end of it.
What Happened?
10.8 miles, 4 hrs 48 min, 2234 ft of ascent
I went hiking Mount St Helena with my friend Jo. Mount St Helena was one of the peaks that I wanted to hike this year, and so I was really happy to scratch that off my list, even if the hike wasn’t too hard. I only now have one more peak to go, which is the East Peak of Mount Tamalpais (starting from Stinson Beach).
Jo and I started hiking at about 7am (about 30 minutes past sunrise). Most of the drive up was covered in fog, but the fog parted in the last few miles as the road snaked its way to the trailhead. We parked with only one other car in the parking lot, and started hiking at a pretty good pace.
Actually, I was surprised that Jo was able to keep up with a steady, 2mph pace, given that she hadn’t attempted a hike like this in a while.
We saw interesting rock formations that I would have just passed by with not much of a look in the past. But this time, with my budding rock climbing hobby in my mind, I took the time to study the rock, inspect the fixed anchors, and make plans to come back with a buddy to climb The Bubble and Looney Tunes rock formations. One quick note is that the anchors for both of these rocks looked bomber, with glue being used to affix the anchors.
Anyways, we made it to the top of Mt Saint Helena, but discovered that there no benches or rocks of any sort to rest. I also did not see a register, though I didn’t search very hard for it. We hiked back down with not much of a rest, but did end up resting at the South Peak on the way down, where we found a bench.
While there was almost no one on the trail on the way up, on the way down, we passed by runners, hikers, rock climbers, families, couples, and bikers of all sorts. When we got to the parking lot, we found it full, which made us glad that we started out around sunrise.
We then headed for a well-earned lunch in Calistoga.