First of all let me just say … HOW MANY YEARS HAS IT BEEN SINCE ANYONE CAMPED HERE???  The bathrooms were not suitable for use.  I chose to use my bathroom kit out in the wild.  It was an easy enough drive.  I arrived before the rangers and put my information on a piece of paper and wrapped it around my $10 bill before dropping it through the mail slot in the door.  The last bit of the drive to the trailhead is a very nicely paved dirt fire road.  It isn't easy to find where to start having never been here before.  I kept driving to the end of the dirt road until I reached a gate saying No Access.  I turned around and found a couple of people parking off the main fire road on the left.  This is where you need to go to find the trail.

This was the perfect day for me.  Starting at 40 degrees and ending at 50 degrees.  Even though the elevation gain at the beginning is great, the trail is mostly a well paved fire road.  There were a few areas of cool forest and small patches of ice/snow.  I am a snail on hills but I am okay with that.  I made really good time coming back down.

Once you make it to the “top” where the Lookout Tower is, you will notice a sign which says “Summit” with an arrow to the right.  This is where you need to go to reach the true summit.  Hot pink ribbons help mark the way to/from.  When I learned there was some boulder scrambling needed at the end to reach the summit, I thought – I've done that before so no biggie!  I thought the Hot Pink Ribbon path WAS the boulder scrambling!!

I am a solo hiker for the most part.  By the time I got to this point, the people who started before me had been to the summit and was heading back down.  When I reached the boulder summit, I tried three different times to scramble my way up to the very top and just kept slipping.  The last thing I wanted was to injure myself.  I needed to realize that for me on this day I would fall short of making it all the way to the top.

There is no shame in being safe.  🙂

P.S.  When grabbing some food at the base of the Lookout Tower, we all got a thrill when the tower was buzzed by a Glider.  Exciting and scary!!