[Erica]

Hello again! We have since hiked it – not sure if you’re still looking for advice? But here’s a few thoughts – start as early as you can. It gets very exposed, and the sun can get intense. We started at 6 (stayed in a hotel about an hour away as the kids were hanging out there for the day – but lots of people camped at the trail head). 3-4 litres of water, I saw people stashing water part way. No need for crampons, but poles will be hour friend – for climbing the ash and at the top. Also, we found the lava rocks SLOW GOING – especially going down. And surprisingly tiring. Took us 8 hours, we heard average is 7-12. Having now completed all the hikes, I found this one the hardest/my legs were sorest! We were happy we brought work gloves as the rocks were rough. And the true summit is actually further to your left after getting to the top – we hadn’t realized that, and were super glad to make the extra effort. So spectacular up there!!!!! Have fun!

[Erica]

I have found lots of descriptions of various experiences on Pinterest, lots of detail through those posts. It depends so much on people’s abilities/previous hiking. Also, we had permits for Oct but wanted to try to hike earlier in the year. My husband kept checking the website for updates, and yesterday saw two permits for Aug 30th! Just a tip, if you wanted to hike earlier….

[Erica]

We did it yesterday. From RockPile. Roads were great, just the three hour drive each way made for a loooooong day. And there’s no cell service on the road, so pay attention to the route for the return!!!!! We found we quickly hiked out of the bad air, and so for all of our hikes in the past few days, the smoke masked our views, but we were breathing clean air!! We used AllTrails to help us keep somewhat on track – especially for the last mile or so (which was absolutely a slog, and somewhat of a choose-your-own-adventure!!!!