It was pretty warm for Flagstaff, but a nice breeze was blowing as we started our way up Elden.  The trail was pretty busy but never felt overcrowded. When I got to the top, I made my way up to checkout the fire lookout tower.  The climb up to this tower felt a lot longer than the one up to the tower on O'Leary.

There are a couple of spots on the trail where the dirt is really loose.  One of the people in our group fell and as we were tending to him, another hiker (not in our group) fell in the same spot. There were also a couple of spots where it looked like part of the trail had been washed away.

The six miles of this hike felt really long, because my lungs and legs were working overtime on the way up and the descent was difficult as well.