We began this hike at 7:45. It was already warm. The first two miles of trail were very steep and rutted and over grown. Lots of large rocks. This part of the trail was  difficult to walk down. We were on high alert for rattlesnakes too. After the first two miles the trail is all fire road. The views were not great, but it was easy to walk on at least. The bugs were insane. For some reason the horse flies loved my son and not me. The gnats made up for it though!  At the summit there was a picnic table in the shade where we ate lunch. It was nice and cool and very few bugs!  In total the hike was 6.5 hours. I only recommend this hike if you can leave at dawn.