Don’t let the impression of just a few miles sound like an easy hike; Mount Walker is a steep, 2000′ elevation gain hike that is rated as moderate by the rangers and by All Trails. To be fair, the trail is well maintained, easy to follow, and pretty smooth. However, the slope is relentless.
During the summer months, you can actually drive to the top of Mount Walker to get the same view, without the hike. The hike is a separate trail that switchbacks up the mountain at a 10-20% slope. That means that on average, for every five or six feet you walk horizontally, you’re going a foot up.
Since we arrived in the winter, hiking is the only way to get to the top. You park outside the gate at the road that leads up. When we arrived, there were probably about a dozen other cars of people heading up the mountain. There were a surprisingly large number of dogs on the trail.
If I’m brutally honest, there are a lot of people that passed me on the trail. About halfway up, the heavens opened up to start a relentless downpour. We just put our hoods up and kept trecking. Being slow and steady does win the race. It took us about one and a half hours to make it up the mountain.
Between the clouds and rain, there unfortunately wasn’t much of a view for us at the top. We stared out into the gray void for a few moments, feeling anticlimactic, before searching the rest of the summit.
At the top, there are a couple picnic tables and some pit toilets. We found a moderate amount of shelter on a log under a tree to eat out lunch. However, sitting for just a few minutes let the chill seep into our fingers and jackets, so we bundled back up and quickly made our way back down the mountain.
Even though the cardio effort going down is much lighter, the slope takes more of a toll on the joints. Shuffling down the mountain, the slopes seemed even steeper in the wet mud on the trail. At some points, we let gravity take us, jogging lightly to find some relief in our leg muscles.
If you want to follow us along our hike, check out our video on our YouTube Channel, A&A Backyard, and drop us a line to let us know what you think!