Great news, everyone! This time I actually successfully found my way to the Chief Mountain trailhead for hike 19😂!
I’m lucky enough to have every other Friday off due to working a flexible schedule. If I can, I try to spend that day hiking, snowboarding, or getting outside anyway I can. On this particular Friday the weather was supposed to be beautiful and unseasonably warm, so hiking it WAS (surprise, I know). I also wanted to hit the climbing gym that evening and had a girls trip planned for the next morning, so I thought sticking to home would be best. I don’t know if you can relate but I tend to spread myself a little thin and figured less drivetime would be ideal given the 3+ hours I was about to be in the car the next morning.
If you know me or read my blog you know that hike 15 was supposed to be Chief Mountain. But, what can I say, I have my blonde moments and that just was not meant to be. I saw someone post the other day about doing both Squaw and Chief Mountain and I’ve added that to my list for warmer weather hikes. And you can’t park at the wrong trailhead if you’re doing both trails 😉.
I packed the ladies up in the car and they were seriously as excited as can be. It’s so funny how amped dogs get when you say certain words, and mine go into an absolute frenzy now whenever I say the word, “hike.” I’m not sure my younger dog even knows the word walk, but she sure has that one down. Chief Mountain is about an hour drive from where I’m at which makes it ideal for a quick morning getaway.
If you’re heading there, note that there isn’t an actual parking lot and you park on the side of the road. I’ve never been on a weekend but I have heard that parking tends to fill up quickly. On this day I think there were four other cars at the trail head, which is what I experiences the last time I went as well.
How to describe this hike…? Delightful, absolutely delightful. Tea cups, daisies, corgie burrs...all of that wrapped into one solid little trek. The weather was perfect, there was minimal wind, and the sun was shining. I didn’t even need a jacket and at certain points was down to a tank top. I was on cloud nine the whole damn hike, almost like a runners high. I honestly stayed there for most of the weekend as I got three hikes in, but we’ll get to all those later.
The trail itself is relatively short at 3.1 miles round-trip. But due to the snow and solid elevation gain of 984 feet I felt like I got a pretty solid work out in. The trail itself was a mixture of snow and completely dry areas, which I was surprised by. This gives me hope that summer is coming, again, feels. I would still recommend wearing spikes, but I tend to wear them with any snow pack. In addition to being blonde I also tend to fall, slip, or do whatever unintentional acrobatics my body feels like that day...so if you’re not me, boots may very well have been adequate given the the packed down trail.
When you get close to the summit the trail is nearly dried out. This was nice given the little scramble at the top, which is completely doable with dogs in tow. There was no wind at at the summit, so we got to sit, snack, and take in the incredible views for quite some time. And when I say incredible views, I mean this hike has INCREDIBLE views.
Although the trail wasn’t crowded, always expect there to be some others at the summit as this is a pretty popular trial. We lucked out that day as everyone we met on the trail must also have been getting those good trail vibes I was 🥰. There were two people and a dog when we first reached the top, and about twenty minutes later another two came up. All wonderful people, clearly happy to be out on this beautiful day.
I am SO excited to share the rest of my weekend, but also need sleep to function at work tomorrow, so the Glenwood girls trip extravaganza must wait. Looking forward to sharing the rest of it with each of you soon. Until next time, happy hiking 🥾✌🏼❤️!
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