Date hiked: July 4, 2008
Distance: 6.8 miles round-trip
Elevation gain: 1500'
Time: 3 hours
This trail is listed as "moderate" in my guidebook, but I'd say its more grueling than that. The elevation gain is 1500' over a little over 3 miles, the last mile or so being extremely steep, gravelly switchbacks. Much of the trail looks like this:
Once you get up higher, the trees become fewer and it's possible to see quite far. At the top, you can see all the way to the Grand Tetons, and look down on rivers, geyser basins, mountains, and the ubiquitous loop road. At this point you can laugh at the people stuck in cars while you gaze down on them from over a thousand feet up - you've earned it.
