Wow, what a beautiful hike! You do start to incline and the switch backs start right from the beginning of the trailhead but it's not too bad 🙂 very doable! The altitude was kicking my butt on my way up though, so I had to take some breaks to catch my breath and keep going. Went at my own pace. Loved the spectacular scenery around me, we started at 6 AM and finished the trail by noon because we did take a nice little breakfast break at the summit. Found a beautiful spot to enjoy the view on a fallen tree. The big flag was gone and we couldn't find the sign so we just took photos with the little sign that was there. The summit started getting crowded pretty quickly. The way back down was fun and easy and I had my best friend with me all the way through so this day was perfect and beautiful.