Great trail for dogs and kids that can handle a little extra distance! Lots of shade once you get off of Gold Camp Road portion of the hike. The last .5 to .75 miles is the most difficult, but worth the extra effort!
Karen's reply: Yes, the last portion of this trail is the most difficult, but definitely worth it. Since the time that we hiked this particular trail, we bought hiking sticks and they are really helpful for going up or down steep inclines. And they seem to be especially helpful for going down steep inclines since you can use them to help slow yourself down. We bought ours at REI, but have also seen them at Costco. In fact, we bought a couple more of them at Costco as a "backup" to our current hiking sticks. Anyway, we find them to be very helpful.