This was my first encounter with this trail. I had a beautiful hike to both peaks on a very nice day in July. The fire road leading to the trail had several large pools of water but could be traversed without difficulty. The biting insects were bad on the fire road, but disappeared as I ascended Bald Mountain, and never were a problem until returning to the fire road at the end of the hike. Trails were well marked and clear-I had no trouble following the blazes and cairns. The views that day, especially from Speckled, were tremendous. I met no one on the ascents and only saw a couple of groups moving to climb on the fire road.