I arrived at the hiking trail at 6 AM. It took me about 15-20 minutes to find the right place to park, gear up, and walk to the trailhead. During the first few miles, I was worried about the heat, but as I hiked up, the weather became less hot. However, the flies were quite annoying.

I noticed a lot of wild animal scats on the trail. At one point, I came across a fox, probably hunting some mice. We were approximately 15-20 feet apart, and we looked at each other for a few seconds before I yelled at it. The fox then quickly ran away.

Seeing wildflowers, butterflies, and birds was amazing. As I was hiking alone, I hoped to see other hikers for a chat, but I realized nobody else was hiking there. During the last mile to the summit, some road bikers passed me, kicking up dust. I caught up with them at the summit, and it was nice to see people around.

I figured the temperature would rise, so it was good to have extra water. I asked the bikers for some, and thankfully, they provided me with water to fill my backpack. On my way back down to the trailhead, I almost used all the water due to the extreme heat, which made the situation very challenging.

Climbing up took me around 3 hours and 30 minutes to reach High Point, and coming down took about 2 hours. So, the entire hike was approximately 5 hours and 30 minutes.

Would I recommend this hike? Absolutely! However, I realized it would be better to have a more suitable backpack, snacks, bear pepper spray, more water, and to practice some emergency procedures to make the hike more enjoyable and safe.