We had intended to start hiking at 730 am but we had made several stops along the way to get breakfast and other necessities.
We finally arrived at Rose Valley campground just before 9am
When we arrived it was a chilly 28- degrees.
The weather predicted for the day was 50's so we were hoping that it would warm up.
Anyways, we walked along the fire road which wasn't too bad. However it was like a rollercoaster with lots of ups and downs with a few steep sections.
The last time I was on this road was when we hiked up Hines peak. Keith was so kind to drive us on this road. On that day the fog was so thick we couldn't see anything. So I was pretty excited to see what I missed.
It was a clear day and the surrounding views were stunning.
We finally arrived at the second fork in the road and took a break before climbing up the steep firebreak leading up to Chief.
I really enjoyed climbing this ridge. The surrounding views were spectacular! Lots of lush green hills and fall colors.
When we finally arrived at the base of the summit it was a bit challenging. We had to find a good route up to the peak. Climbing the rocks was a little scary with steep drop offs. It looked like there were many ways to approach the summit. We just had to find the safest one. At one point we just dropped our poles and left them behind.
I personally enjoyed the rock scramble but it seemed like it took forever just to get to the top.
We didn't have a GPS track but we thank God we made it.
Chief peak is now on my favorite peaks list. I loved this peak. I found two benchmarks and a register.
We enjoyed our lunch while soaking in the views of the Channel Islands and surrounding mountains. By then the weather warmed up to a cool 50- degrees.
We also found several unidentifiable animal prints. We didn't see any roadrunners only one hawk.
