Great day for a hike and a perfect way to see the Gorge.
The hike is really straightforward, well-maintained and easy to follow, but not necessarily easy -- you gain a lot of elevation in a pretty small amount of time.
Unfortunatley, the very top of the mountain is really overgrown so you don't have much of a view, which makes the hike pretty anticlimactic. However, you can see Mt Adams from the top which does make it worth it. If you're planning to stop for lunch, I would definitely recommend stopping at one of the rocky outlooks on the way up.
We decided to just go back down the way we came versus doing the loop trail, which is shorter, but the rock/dirt did give out a few times coming down. The other benefit was being able to stop at the waterfall on the way back -- we took a dip in the pool and filtered some of the water, which was a great way to end the hike.
Overall the hike took us about 2.5 hours with plenty of stops and going at a pretty casual pace.
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