Solo. I think my perception of this hike was severely altered by how epic my hike up Big Bald was yesterday. I started out from Chimneytop Gap around 1145. The trail was fairly uninteresting, and frankly, mostly flat. I got bored quickly and hustled to the summit in a sort of zoned out state. There was a nice (newish?) viewing platform just below the summit at the upper most parking area, & the view was nice but mostly clouded. Nothing spectacular.

On the actual summit I was surprised at how naked and industrial it looked. Sort of like a grassy parking lot. I was also surprised to see a few folks in camping chairs under umbrellas using binoculars and high powered cameras. Right in front of the summit plaque. Turns out, they were bird watchers, and this week is "International Hawk Migration week." Go figure.

After one of the group obliged to take a photo for me, I snapped a couple of shots of the cloudy views, & headed immediately back into the woods and got back to my car very quickly.

Overall, not great, but not bad. Another state high point in the books, at the very least.