I started at 1:00 PM, a potential idiot move at the hottest part of a 90 degree day. The trail heads south rising gently into the foothills. At 0.9 miles, the Burkhart Trail comes in sharply from the right. I stayed on the Devil's Chair trail, meeting parties on their way down. When the trail turned east, I was in pleasant pine forest with a fair amount of shade and my concerns about roasting in the sun eased. Phantasmagoric geology was on display the rest of the way. Rocks and clay were varied in colors and formations in dark green, red, pink, tan, and white. The photos don't capture the richness of the color. While the trail undulated between 5200' and 5300', it felt mostly flat until the 400' drop at the end to the Chair. The Devil's Chair is a ramp of white rock into the open air above the Punchbowl. A fence is built around it on both sides to keep people from falling off. Nice views and worth the effort. I saw two large bear scats on the trail. There's plenty of bear food at this elevation. I took a 10-minute side trip to peak 5270 on a use trail on the way back. I'm not sure the diversion was worthwhile, though someone had left a lawn chair on the summit.
The Devil's Chair is the upper white protrusion
View from the Chair
I couldn't leave the Punchbowl without a quick scramble on the slabs. I headed for the highest slab in the park, which meant leaving the loop trail and taking one of the many criss-cross use trails down to the rocks. I climbed over a lower slab to get to the base of the big one. I found an out of place benchmark on the lower slab. The slabs appear to be mainly sandstone conglomerate with small rocks sticking out of the surface. I started up the main crack facing the road which was a mix of class 1/2/3. Half way up the crack, there was a landing where I dropped my pack. I followed the crack the rest of the way to its terminus just below the peak, but could not find a way up the final 12'. I backtracked down the crack to a lone bush. The way up there was tough class 3 and required trusting your weight to one or two inch holds on the rocks sticking out of the surface. The first 10' above the bush was the crux. I tested the first couple of rocks and they held, then I worked my up to the top. It was tricky coming down and I ended up sliding the last five feet of the crux section back to the main crack. It was a fun way to end the hike.
This was on the lower slab, the 5869 stamped on it is not the elevation here, strange
class 3 here
Dropped my pack below
