So I had hoped to do an ‘easy’ hike by cutting some distance and taking the ski lift up. The day had other plans. A sensor issue caused the ski lifts not to start, and so we ended up taking the trail underneath the ski lifts. This added just under mile and a half and took an hour to climb up the gravelly hill to the road to Top of the Notch. I felt like I’d burned much of my energy getting up there, but we’d made it that far so we trekked on along the Devil’s Backbone. It was slow going up to the peak, but we did eventually made it and were rewarded with amazing views on a crystal clear day. After photos, a snack, and a 10 minute nap, we hiked back down, hoping that we could at least take the ski lifts down. No such luck. We had to hike back to the parking lot, but this time, we took the road.