We  left the trailhead and hiked through a Kipuka (tree island) before we hit the lava at about mile 1. We hiked up and up through vast lava flows and sweeping views of the Cascades to our first peak, Little Belknap Crater. We observed collapsed lava tubes that are thousands of years old and the odd tree and bush that have somehow find life amongst the lava. It was stark and beautiful. We continued our trek to the top of Belknap Crater mostly in sand that, thankfully, had some rain recently. It was still a trudge and most of the elevation gained on this hike was in the last mile to the summit. Once at the summit, we had an amazing view down into Belknap crater and west to Mt Washington. It was quite windy but not too cold and an amazing way to end this hiking challenge!