I would hike this mountain again! It had it all: waterfalls, pine forest, tree shade, panoramic views, other fun hikers, and great weather. Me and my hiking partner were at the trailhead by 6:30am and the parking lot was filling fast with seasoned hikers all on the trail by 7am to avoid the afternoon heat. We kept a relatively slow hiking speed as both of us were experiencing mild altitude sickness headache and dizziness from the 5,000 ft high trailhead start. We gained 4,200 fit in elevation gain to reach a max elevation of 8,854 ft near the summit according to my Garmin watch. The only detractor from the trail (besides the heat on return) was the biting insects which included mosquitos and black flies, with a generous helping of non-biting gnats. For the first time ever, I used a lightweight head net to keep them off me which went over my hat and sinched around my lower neck. So happy to have bought it right before the hike! I did see what I believed was poison oak near the Ice House Canyon stream but the trail was easily wide enough to avoid it.