Nick R.
Google
TLDR:
Warmer weather (fall, summer) = good, aggressive vertical hike, 1mile with benches.
Winter/Spring = advanced hiking, wear spikes, bad but fun, ice, windy, closed road 16miles top and back.
I’ve been here around 7 times.
In the fall I went by driving up Kuwohi road. I recommend going on a weekday since the weekends are usually packed and you won’t get that scenic time because of all the people. The times that I’ve gone I haven’t really figured out when the ideal time is but definitely before the leaves change. I noticed twice fold the amount of people there after the leaves change. Make sure to buy the parking ticket! 5$ for the day is extremely low and helps out the parks. Also makes a cool little scrapbook item.
The hike up to cling man’s dome starts by the tourist shop. It’s roughly about a mile to the top. It starts out with a very aggressive vertical hike on pavement. There are benches periodically placed throughout the paved hiked. Make sure to look around at the views! Towards the top it will level out a bit and lead you towards Cling man’s Dome. Take the paved area up there and enjoy the panoramic view!
In the Winter to spring season is a different story. Winter time the roads can be sporadic so make sure to view the GSM NPS to see if Newfound gap is open. If so, we parked there and made the hike up Kuwohi road. (We tried the App trail, way longer and more aggressive.) Start early, took us around 3.5hrs up and 2hrs down. Highly recommend traction spikes or crampons or snow shoes. Very deep snow (6in) with ice mixture at lower elevation.