What a great day for a hike.  Loved this trail.  From the beginning with the sound of the creek as we made our way up the gradual climb.  The initial terrain was a mix of dirt and rocks.  Around the first mile after the cabins it become much more rocky as we crossed the creek bed a bit.  The weather was perfect – about 60 degrees and shady with the sun still rising.  The climb out of the creek and rocks turned up the intensity with the long steady switchback climbs to the Saddle.  I've read a bit about the last 2.4 miles being pretty brutal.  It was certainly challenging, but we held a pretty steady pace around the back of BigHorn to the second saddle then made the climb to the peak.  By the time we hit the post marker for the “Right” turn and the final climb we were taxed and had a quick rest but were surprised how close it was from there.  The views were almost endless, with some haze/smog in the distance but we could clearly see the snow left on Gorgonio and San Jacinto and a good portion of the Inland Empire.  There were 2 groups up there in addition to ours.  We snapped some shots for each other had a PB+J, hung out for about 30 min then raced down.
All in all it took 6:30 min from start to finish and we were back in Sherman Oaks buy 2:45pm.
Great hike and looking forward to Baldy, San Jacinto, and Gorgonio in the coming weeks.