And if you are going to do it after 2pm, park your car outside the gates. hiking poles are good idea or find a stick. If I’d known better, I would prep a light snack, brought my camel back for water. All together I did it in less than 4 hr 30 min, but I was doing 16 min a mile on the way down so I could get to my car before 8pm. I had late breakfast at 11am and with no snack I was almost low on sugar.
the best part I did it, I had my water on top spent 15 min and head down. On the peak you see tremendous view, lots of flowers, and on a clear day maybe a view of my. I got lucky that right before starting on new trail I asked someone who just came down and she suggested I go up on the old trail 2.5 mile and come back down on the new trail (5.5 miles)
park my car inside the gate (gate closes at 8pm) and thought I‘D be back by 8pm. I read somewhere it’s only 5 miles round trip. Definitely respect this trail, I showed up at 2pm with a can of sparkling water, on my running shoes and my light jacket.
