Again, my first time hiking this peak. I really enjoyed it. I did ditch my hiking sticks at the area where it is flat rock and you can hold onto the center pole for support to climb at the recommendation of another hiker. I grabbed them on my way back down =) That ended up being a MO for many of my hikes. I did have to rest a lot at the boulders and wished that I was faster hiker because I stopped a lot; however, with all the shade it was fine. Everyone kept telling me I was almost there. It was totally worth it at the top and I saw the yearly Christmas tree. Apparently, my boss knows the man that carries the tree up each year and another co-worker of mine can hike it up in 15 min. I did the whole trip in three hours which I am totally proud of.