I had been driving past Flatiron to First Water on my daily hikes and finally bit the bullet. I was nervous that I wouldn’t have enough time or that I wouldn’t be fit enough to finish. I heard so many people saying how difficult it was that I second guessed myself. But I started early on a Sunday. There were already a ton of people out earlier than me. I enjoyed the conversations with the fellow hikers that I passed on my way up. I had two lady’s smoke me on their way up like I was standing still, but I think I left the same impression on a few people. I made it to Flatiron by just under 2 hours and then decided to go up to the summit for a nice breather on top of the world. The view was spectacular and unsuspectingly I noticed how small the surrounding Pass and Done mountains that I’ve hiked are. I ran down most of the trail to make good time for my first hike of this trail. Knees didn’t really enjoy that as much as I did. Overall I made the trip to the summit and back to my vehicle in 3.5 hours. It was tough. Cardio is the real villain here, that is a very short distance to gain that much elevation. I really enjoy scrambling, so the top portion of the trail was really fun and right up my alley. I will definitely do this hike over and over. I saw Flatiron Jim on my way down, but didn’t take a picture with him.