STRAWBERRY PEAK
by Alex Chen

We started the day with our usual meet at REI for carpool before dawn. On this hike, we had no assigned leader and some were late. All we had was the map and the notes that we skimmed through last night.

Going through winding roads to drive up to the trailhead, we were hit with haze and somehow missed the trailhead lot. That wasted us another half an hour. By the time we arrived at the trailhead and got ready to actually hike, the sun was already hitting us.

When we arrived at the water tank, the first landmark, we were 1:30 hr behind schedule. After our long break of food, I started hiking down a trail thinking there would be a scramble up on to our right. Not remembering exactly how far down we had to break from the trail, we kept on going. Of course, we passed the trail, which was only 30 feet from the water tank. By the time we realized it, we were about half a mile down already. Backtracking to the water tank, we were thinking: how sad! We got lost so easily.

The scramble up the rocks on the class 3 segment was really fun. Not only did it give us the confidence of feeling the solid rocks with our bare fingers, but it also gave us the satisfaction of climbing and using our arms instead of just legs. I had injured my knee on a run the week before and was not in the mood to stress it. A few of the fellow female hikers felt a little uncomfortable going up. So when we reached the peak, we decided to have Quang return to the car while I lead the rest of the group out by descending through the longer but less exposed side.

On the hike down, the air was very dry and the sun burned us like raisins. There was practically no shade so we descended quickly.

By the time we finished the hike at the Red Box Ranger Station, we were out of water and it was almost 2pm. Quang, who climbed down the class-3 section, took much less time than us (and that is why he is our “coach”.) We all peaked, but we made so many mistakes that I would much rather call it a failed hike. At least, we had a chance to learn from our mistakes… I hope. I’ll be sure to bring my notes next time.


See Strawberry Peak Photos

Read about other hikes:
Strawberry Pk
Clamshell Pk
Cactus to Tram
Sugarloaf
Mt. Whitney MR
Mt. Russell
Cactus to Clouds
Iron to Baldy