We started at the Vivian Creek trailhead and quickly started off with a good climb up into Vivian Creek Campground. The first 3 miles have a decent amount of bugs, which was quite annoying, but they quickly disappeared for the rest of the hike. Once at Vivian Creek Campground, the next 3 miles are pretty mellow crossing a few streams with plenty of flowing water to refill and a nice forest canopy for shade. The last stop before you start you serious ascent to the summit is High Creek Campground, which is also your last water source, so we loaded up what we could store. We brought about a gallon of water each which was enough to drink on the way up, have enough for meals and coffee, and then enough to drink on the way back down. The 3 miles from High Creek to summit is a good climb and with little shade or protection from the wind, but each break is a good chance to take in the views. Once at summit you have  360 views, Palm Springs being the most predominate in the distance. Summit Camp has these awesome stacked stone wind breaks for camping which ended up working great. As the sun set, temperatures dropped quickly and winds picked up. We enjoyed great views of the sunset and sunrise before packing up and heading back down the trail home. It took us 6 hours to summit and 4 to get back down to the trailhead. Overall a great experience and a perfect overnight backpacking trip.