Chaparral Peak via Sonewall-Panoramic Trail

Begin at the Stonewall Road Trailhead. The steep fire road is easy to follow, always rutted and rocky with some easy flats but mostly very steep. You pass four benches, each with a great view. The last section, before you hit the pavement of Panoramic Road, is the steepest, and also rocky, rutted, and loose. Shoes with decent rubber and tread required. If balance is an issue, bring trekking poles. To continue to Chaparral Peak, Grizzly Peak Road, or Vollmer Peak, when you get to then pavement of Panoramic Road, go up and right on the pavement, not down and left. The pavement runs out in less than a hundred yards at a secluded private driveway, and the only way to go is a hard right turn onto another fire road, which, though popular, doesn't have a name. Following this fire road all the way will get you to Grizzly Peak Road which is a thoroughfare traversing the Berkeley hills. From the end of the pavement, the fire road follows along the ridgeline beside a row of tall Eucalyptus trees, splits briefly at the fourth and last bench beside an open area, then rejoins a short way to ascend, steep and straight, a hundred feet up in the first of three significant climbs. It's worth noting that at the base of this climb is the first of three short connecting lefthand trails that will bring the hiker to the Upper Jordon Fire Trail, which circles Strawberry Canyon, long and almost level. After the steep and straight hike up the hill, the fire road passes another open area, with a solitary Oak tree instead of a bench, it then descends gradually, then more steeply to the base of the second steep section. It is not apparent unless you've looked at a map, but at this point, the fire road and the Upper Jordon fire trail are very adjacent, less than a hundred feet apart, and if you wish, you can easily clamber left and down through the trees to the Upper Jordon Fire Trail.