Beautiful trail, amazing views. As other reports have said, there are a few small downed trees across the trail on the spur to the summit, but won’t pose a problem for most hikers. I don’t recommend shorts due to the nettles crowding the last portion of the trail, but no mud and no bugs. Elevation gain is constant, but nowhere was too steep for kids.
A few navigational notes to add - I had hiked Ship Peak quite a few years ago, and confused this trail with that one, since they are all part of the Turtleback area. If you don’t know there are multiple routes here, take a look at the overall map because you’ll have a very different hiking experience and views! I am so glad I wasn’t paying attention and had the chance to take this route by mistake!
Also note that at the fork in the trail for Waldron overlook, you DO actually want to take the overgrown looking path downhill, and not continue along the forest road. We made this mistake, as did the 3 other groups we saw hiking that day, and all of us added an extra 1.5 miles before realizing our mistakes. Seems silly to have missed in retrospect, but it happens!
Overall, this trail was perfect - beautiful forest the whole way, more ripe salmon berries than I’ve ever seen, the views at the overlooks were worth checking out but the final view at the peak was truly breathtaking. We only saw 4 other groups on a Saturday starting at 9am and had the final overlook to ourselves for an hour, where we saw a golden eagle and clear views all the way into Canada.
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