Mildred Point — Sunday, Sep. 1, 2024

The description is accurate - once you get to the sign that says you have .5 miles left, the trail does get steep. Really steep! It’s also very loose soil (sand?) towards the top, so I ended up running it or else I would lose traction and slip back down. Poles definitely helped here. But the views and solitude at the top were worth it. We parked at the TH at 7am and had the trail to ourselves after Comet Falls. Saw lots more hikers headed up on our way down.

As for bugs - there were no mosquitos, but spiders! No matter how many people we came across we were constantly cleaning spider webs from our faces and arms. I even found one swimming in my Nalgene when we stopped for a water break (lucky I carry two bottles!)

Flowers are pretty much done for the year but the reds and yellows are starting to set in. It was a hot one, so we stopped at comet falls again on the way down to sit in the mist for a few minutes before continuing on.