Hike/Drive Cadillac Mountain via the North Ridge Trail

The hike to the summit of Cadillac Mountain via the North Ridge Trail is 2.2 miles up and 2.2 miles down. At a slower pace my group climbed the trail in 2 hours up and 1.5 hours down. There are other trails to the top. The North Trail was not heavily crowded on the day in September that we went but it is well traveled and we met hikers along the way. It is well marked trail. The view from the top is AMAZING. I highly recommend going to the Hulls Cover Visitors Center and get a map and ask all of your questions. The people are very friendly. We drove to the top of Cadillac the next day after hiking to catch the sunrise (the first place the sunrises in the US at certain times of the year and September is one of those times). The mountain was more crowded at 5:45 AM than it was at 2:00 PM the previous day. It is worth the trip. One tip --- parking is limited on the the roads... by limited I mean 5-10 spots. I HIGHLY recommend parking at the visitors center and taking a shuttle to the trail heads or arranging a ride with a non-hiker.