What a great experience. My wife and I tackled this as our first peak in the 6 pack. We arrived a bit before 6 am and were able to park in the lot and hit the trail right away. The wind up was interesting and enjoyable. The creek set up the area nicely and the climb was long but not overly strenuous. Once we got to the middle portion, that changes a bit and picked up the intensity and we definitely got a good sweat going! Starting early was great, as the weather was comfortable the entire time. Upon reaching the summit, we enjoyed the amenities and treated ourselves to an early lunch at the cosmic cafe. Make sure before you hit the cafe you take a right and go to the sign and the summit views. The wind down was just as enjoyable with more scenic views of mountains and the city scapes. We had a tough time finding the starting point for the loop route on the way down, so for those not familiar it was not marked, but sits off the main parking lot to the right of the scenic views of LA and the surrounding areas. We finished the beautiful jaunt through the streams of the lower winter creek. All in all our day was complete by 4 pm, and that’s with taking our time and stopping for at least an hour to take in the sites and some grub at the top. Long day but a fun one, and look forward to the next 5!