This was a challenging hike! Everything I had read said it was going to be about 10 miles round trip. I don't know if it was the times I got off trail and had to find my way back or what but I ended the day with 13 miles. It did also take me a little while to actually figure out which peak was Mount Wilson because there are cairns that lead you on to the next couple peaks so I hiked past it a ways too. I'm not sure how much extra that added but obviously that contributed to the extra mileage. Hiking up through First Creek Canyon is pretty tough. If you take your time and are diligent you can probably keep track of the trail and the cairns. There are actually lots of cairns to help guide the way. But it is so easy to get off the path through there. Sometimes there will be a cairn and it'll look like there are two path options and they're both fairly overgrown so I'd pick the less overgrown one and it'd turn out to be completely the wrong way. I did this hike in July so the creek was nothing more than a few isolated and stagnant ponds. I did get to see a few frogs and tadpoles at these ponds though. Once you're out of the canyon and start hiking up to the top of the ridge to actually get to Mount Wilson is rough too. Maybe it was the sun, maybe I was under-fueled at that point, or maybe I'm just not in as good of conditioning as I thought I was, but that hillside is STEEP and I found myself stopping for a breather probably every 50 feet. There are several cairns that lead to a couple different overlooks and peaks on top of the ridge so make sure you keep track of which one is Mount Wilson. Once I was up there though, WOW! The view and the incredible sheer cliff that was almost a vertical drop to the ground was dizzying and spectacular. The longer I looked at it the more awe-inspiring it was. The hike down went well. I was a bit short of water but everything turned out okay. Coming off the ridge, the trail has lots of small and loose rocks that make for a slick descent if you're not careful. All in all it was a good hike but I'm excited to do it again in another, cooler, season!