This was a beautiful spring day. The first 3-4 miles were lovely. We stopped by Sturtevant Falls, and I was surprised by how much water there was along those first few miles. Very picturesque! Once we hit Sturtevant Camp, I was feeling pretty confident. 14 miles of this? No problem. However, this is the part of the trail that took a turn for the worse for me. Steady, steady climb. And oh, the swtichbacks. There are a lot of them, and they seem never-ending! My heartrate was UP and I was stopping every few minutes to get it under control. One of the people in my group who had previously hiked Wilson joked that tomorrow we would all have great butts. At one point toward the top I could hear people laughing and joking, so I knew I was close, but I was so tired that it might as well have been another 4 miles. Someone carved a great mileage sign to hold up for a picture at Echo Rock, which was an unexpected treat. Many in my group had lunch at the (very crowded + busy) Cosmic Cafe near the observatory. I pulled out my sandwich and gratefully got some energy back in my body. We had a 15% chance of rain, but during lunch the clouds suddenly blew in. We were up high enough that it felt like we were IN the clouds. We took the Winter Creek trail down, which took us right through the area that burned last year. With the wind whipping the low-lying clouds in through there it was rather eerie. Once you get back into the treeline, it's actually quite pretty. Steep coming down, and my knees were grateful for my hiking poles. Overall, I was a little surprised by how tough this hike was for me. Well, how tough that 3 mile section from the camp to the observatory. It made me a little nervous for the rest of the peaks, since this is considered one of the easier ones. Hopefully this hike is helping me to prepare for those upcoming ones!