Started around 7:30am, there was good cloud cover for the first few miles. After a nice first 1/2 mile, the next 2 miles were intense. Single track, lots of rocks, pretty steep. It was very hard for me (62 year old, recently got back into hiking). Once we got to the fire road, it was better, but of course, it kept going up – that's the point of a peak. Around mile 3 or so, the bugs were terrible. If we didn't have head nets, we probably would have turned around. When we read other reviews about the bugs, we were thinking they'd be the gnats we encountered on other hikes. Nope. These were flies that I swear were biting us. We had to put on our long sleeves in addition to the nets. We finally made it to the top and met the nicest lookout tower volunteer. He gave us a card inducting us into the Ancient and Honorable Order of the Squirrel – in recognition of our completing the hike. We only saw about 3 other hikers all day, but saw many motorcycles, jeeps, and other 4 wheel drive vehicles pass us on the fire road. Hiking time 6 hours 33 minutes, Total time 8 hours 14 minutes. Actual mileage was 13.66 miles.

All in all, it was a great day! We did it!

This completes my 6th peak! (I've decided to count the alternate peak Woodson and call this challenge DONE!)