We drove down from Bend on Saturday morning and hit the trail at about 8:40am. There were a handful of cars at the trailhead, and although there wasn't a cloud in the sky, the air was cool and the pines provided shade most of the way.

The trail was completely free of snow except for one tiny patch — a novelty more than an obstacle.

As we neared the summit, we missed one of the switchbacks as there was a social trail along the edge of the crater that (at first) looked like the actual trail. We quickly got back on track and found our way to the top.

One downside of Paulina? There's a road to the summit, so you've got families and (in our case) people flying drones up there. But the views are much better when you've earned them. You get great views of the Cascades, both lakes in the crater and a good portion of Oregon from the summit.