After hiking this trail several times, I knew I wanted to arrive at this point early in the morning to get the warm rays of the morning sun on the multitude of sub-alpine flowers in the forground and Mount of the Holy Cross is the background. Arriving at the 11,000' trailhead before sunrise, I was able to hike the 2 miles in time for the best light of the day. For a while I had the entire mountain to myself. On the decent, I was able to stop and have several good conversations with other nature lovers making their way up the trail.