Hadn't done this trail for 3 years.. Since I was in Ellensburg, and I had read Karen Sykes report in the PI, I decided to do it. I arrived at the Cove road TH with my father-in-law and my wife at around 9:00am and already the parking lot was swarming with throngs of people. Kittitas county search and rescue were doing training on the trail which would partially explain why so many people were there (Karen is the real reason!, she is forgiven due to her excellent weekly reports). I probably only counted 7 people on the trail 3 years ago. There must of been over 40 this Saturday morning. There are two really step sections, the second is pretty brutal. The views to the north and northwest are absolutely gorgeous. The whole Stuart range, Mt. Daniel, Hinman, and North snoqualmie peaks are available from the top. You have to go a little south of the summit marker to see anything south. My geezer father-in-law beat me up to the top (53 minutes). I made it up in just over an hour.. Bring lots of water and sun screen when the sun is out because you will be in the sun the whole hike.

Trip time was 1 hour and 5 minutes up, half hour down.