Mount Schroeder Trail

Dogs Off-leash

Features Birding · Geological Significance · Swimming · Views · Wildflowers · Wildlife

The trail requires pushing through, and at times pulling yourself up with saw grass. Long pants, long sleeves, and gloves are highly recommended. The trail to the summit would be impossibly slippery after a rain.

The trail starts with an easy 0.25 mile hike to Priest Pools, a series of natural volcanic rock pools that can be waded in. To continue to Mount Schroeder, you cross the stream above the pools and continue up the ridge to the Trans World Radio site. The trail runs just to the left of the radio site fence until 0.6 miles where you momentarily walk inside the fence (there is an opening on both sides allowing access) to navigate around a large wash.

The trail then continues along the fence, past a microwave tower site, and along a doubletrack access road for a short distance. At 0.8 miles, you take a right turn and start the climb up to Mount Schroeder. The first 0.8 miles of the trail are relatively easy, but the trail now gets increasingly difficult as you climb the last half mile to the summit.

After the turn off the access road, the next 0.2 miles are an ascent up a jungle ridge that is a bit of a choose your own adventure: you can bushwhack your way through 7 foot tall saw grass and wild soybeans or walk the steep sidehill through the trees next to the saw grass (the pink ribbon trail markers take you along the sidehill, but can be tough to follow). At 1.1 miles you leave the jungle area and start the steep ascent to the summit on a trail cut through the saw grass.

At 1.2 miles you reach a false peak (which offers good views of the actual peak as well as the coast and ocean behind you), and the trail flattens out a bit before the final push to the peak. The last 0.25 miles has a fairly steep drop off just a couple of feet to the left that is somewhat hidden by the vegetation, so take your time and choose your footing carefully. The views from the top will make you forget how tough the climb was!

Palm groves, ferns, wildflowers, saw grass, wild soybeans, geckos, skinks, chameleons, occasionally wild pigs