Taking a line from the Mountaineers Book, "From beginning to end, there is nothing easy about this hike." Truth!
Getting There: Drive the Chiwawa River Rd for about 19.25 miles. The road is paved to about 10mi then goes to gravel w/bumps the rest of the way. Any vehicle should be fine driving on it. Just as the road starts to take a sharp turn to the right at around 19.25mi your trailhead will be on the left. You will see a sign that points to the trail head and also further for Trinity. We got there at 10am and there were 6 cars on a Tuesday. There is a place to register for the hike so make sure you do so even if its a day hike and also a Forest Pass is required to park. Forest Rangers have been ticketing people without a pass.
If you want to make it to the pass and back to your car, I would highly recommend starting this hike earlier than later in the morning. This hike can be anywhere between 3-4.5 hrs to do and with the shorter days, you will need to be at the pass by 2:00ish if you want to be back before dark. Bring a headlamp to be safe as the return trip is already in dark areas before the sun even sets.
"Must" Items to Bring: Hiking poles.. its very steep and its just as steep on the way back. If you have knee issues you will feel it on the return back. Water.. YES!!! Food..Definitely!! Camera..Its amazing!! You will be expending lots of energy to climb this trail so make sure to hydrate and eat as needed.
The Hike: Walk on past the registration area and your hike starts right at the waters edge of the Chiwawa River. Crossing was uneventful. Nice and cold! You will not be wearing your water shoes after the crossing so feel free to stash them for the return trip. We did that and were glad for less weight in our packs. You will be glad you did.
The Slog: Not going to sugar coat this hike. Its a steep uphill slog and starts shortly after leaving the river crossing. Enjoy the gradual uphill switchbacks because the trail will only get worse.
After the easy switchbacks its goes straight up for quite awhile before evening out. Then it continues up some more. Finally it actually starts to descend down (this will suck on the return trip. Its the only uphill going back) to a creek crossing.
You will meander thru all kinds of brush as it comes out to an open area. After all the brush you will then climb up onto a large rock outcropping marked by various cairns. The cairns are to guide you up and there seem to be various cairn routes to the same destination. (this rock area will be brutal on your return trip, your knees will not like it, mainly for us old people vs youngins).
After the cairn hike you will be back into brush again. Use the brush as your shade when the sun is out. You will eventually end up in a very small little meadow. After the little meadow the uphill continues eventually leading you to the start of the best parts of the hike, the larger meadow with all the fall colors.
At this point you will start to see your destination but its still another 1000ft of elevation and more climbing before you get to gradual climbing again. Once you hit the last steep switchback the trail will be gradual. This is where you can look for some ripe blueberries.
Enjoy the view. I included an awesome video done by another hiker. Thank you Zipster for your video.
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