Started early, spent the night at Bonito campground, cool morning.  Followed the forest road up thru the trees next to the old lava flows.  The first mile is nice and easy rolling hills, after that the incline started.  The pup and I made good time up the road spotting a few squirrels and other small mammals waking up for breakfast. At the lookout tower it was currently resided by a fire watch, who kindly greeted me and the pup at the summit and let us know the best spot for views of the crater;  beautiful mostly clear sky at the top.  Views of the San Francisco mountains, sunset crater and the lava flows from the top. After a short rest we made our way back down seeing several other hikers on their way up.