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Left trailhead at 6:30; summitted at 9:30; and made it back at noon.
The trail started off with a pretty good climb, and then it kind of leveled off where the creeks merge. At that point, there was a creek to the left and a creek to the right -- Nature's "stereo" was pretty cool. Then the climb got steeper ... and steeper.
Some parts had that slippery dirt/gravel, and we had to look for half-buried rocks to step on ("brakes" on the way back down). It was a little difficult to find the "main" trail on the last section up to the saddle/ridge, as there are a web of trails to mislead you (seemed more so on the way down than up).
As far as the ridge goes, Im not sure if you call it difficult 2 or easy 3; all I know is that it was a lot of fun. There was a "trail" in some parts, but it was easy to lose and found myself traversing along the top or just to the south (right) of the ridgeline most of the way. At one point I did go north a bit, but it was met with a steep slab.
Couldn't have asked for better weather -- sunny, cool (but not cold) and absolutely no wind (even at the top, curiously enough). Spent some time on the summit soaking in the sweeping views. Met some cool people, too. One guy we met made it up in just 1-1/2 hours! Only saw a few people on the way up, but came across at least another 20 on the way down (as they were heading up). I was surprised to see clouds forming (not blowing in) at just 10:30 a.m. Some looked dark and mean.
This climb was incredibly scenic from start to finish. Trailhead was just 10 miles or so up Cottonwood from Buena Vista.
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