Gorgeous hike – the first mile or so was a gentle uphill with decent shade, but the following 4 miles were a bit more intense in terms of sun. Lots of gnat clouds were annoying, but not totally awful. I'd definitely recommend not starting any later than 8:30 am or so, as the heat & sun get intense quickly at this elevation and this far inland. We hiked up the rocky path to the peak, which was about 5 miles of decently hard/slow work, but absolutely flew down after summiting. If you do the loop, you'll come down a fire road which is a bit steeper but also a little under 3 miles and much more stable for the downhill than the rocky bits we encountered on the way up. The summit was a bit anticlimactic – no summit sign that we could see, and a giant tower blocks what would otherwise be a lovely 360 degree view. Parking was $10 – they do have a credit card payment machine that made this really simple.
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