Very nice hike.  The entire loop (including lunch) took about 4.5 hours, but we had our 7-year-old with us, which slowed us down considerably.  Trails are very well-maintained and for the most part well-marked, although there is one spot about a mile in, not far after a stream crossing, where the trail appears to go left but you actually need to bear up and right to stay on the trail.  Views at the top (be sure to visit both overlooks) are truly spectacular, and best of all we saw *no one* on the trail the entire time.  We picnicked at the west overlook, but the east is flatter and larger and would be a better spot if you want to spread out. 

Hiked this on Sat 6/6/09. Arrived at 7am and wasn't a single car in the lot. The morning was cool and damp from the rains we had during the week. Three of us set out with the maps and directions from the site. We're noobies too hiking with a few previous hikes under our belt before doing this one. The first mile or so is exactly as it describes here. Pretty flat but beautiful. A nice start I thought. Then the ascent began. As stated, it's about a mile before getting to a break, this was spot on. What we didn't know or is that the trail becomes very rocky when you start the ascent. It wasn't bad and also to note, the mile ascent is a great warm up to the rest of the trail. It's not to steep but will get your blood going.

Reached the sign that said "Trail Head" to the left. We continued straight as the directions said. Saw the sign for the spring and kept going. As you start the ascent again, the trail becomes rocky. For people who are not experienced, be prepared for some tricky stepping as you climb to the top. In the directions it says to be "alert" and follow the trail to the left. This is spot on. If you hike this trail for the first time, keep your eyes open for the left turn (sharp switchback) that takes you to the sign. We missed it and continued up the part that continued to go straight. It's not a big deal, because the straight trail just takes you to the West Summit with the rock scramble. Just follow the trail to the sign in the middle and continue to the East Summit.

After that, make sure to head back down past the spring to the "Trail Head" sign. We made the mistake of looking for another intersection and not knowing that "Trail Head 3.5 -->" was the way to Pompey nor the Henry Lanum Memorial Trail. We ended up circling back up the summit and down again until running into a nice hiker who explained that's where we should be heading. The trek to Pompey was decent but we had lost a lot of energy on that extra circle. There are a couple more ascents and the downhill are full of lose rocks. So again, tricky stepping.

This hike was wonderful through and through. Given our novice status - we were happy. Felt as though we accomplished a good hike, saw some amazing views and pushed ourselves. If you haven't done this trail before, we highly recommend doing it. Its majestic rocks and thick canopy is wonderful. Thanks to the people who maintain this site and the work you all have put into it. Its outstanding!!! Thank you!

I thought this hike was fantastic. Being a backpacker/hiker that enjoys mountain hikes to vistas, I thought this one was especially rewarding. The views were tremendous, and the two vistas were unique in their own way. The east vista was about 180°, and offers an excellent view of the sunrise the west view was about 270° and offers an excellent view of the sunset.

I would highly suggest doing this hike as an overnight, the camping at the top is INCREDIBLE. There were four fantastic campsites, each with their own firepit. There were two near the west vista and two near the east vista. We stayed just below the east vista, and each campsite had enough room for a 2/3 person tent + fly. I would rate the camping as a 5 not a 3 as rated on here! Camping at the summit can be rare anywhere in the east without all the rules and regulations of each particular national park, so it was very nice to be able to do so here - especially since the views were so incredible. This hike took us 1.75 hours to get to the top view the Mt. Pompey route, and about 55 minutes to hike down view the direct route to Mt. Plesant. I highly suggest doing this hike in this fashion, as the direct route up Mt. Pleasant is fairly steep and strenuous. It is not Peaks of Otter strenuous, but at least the Pompey Mt. route splits the gains in altitude with small descents. If vistas are you're thing, this is YOUR hike!

We hiked this trail on Labor Day weekend. Started out at 10:30am and no one else was there. Didn't see a single person until we returned back to the parking lot. The day was really cloudy and foggy so we saw absolutely nothing from the summit but still loved the hike. One strange thing did happen on our hike. About 20% into the hike, a lone dog with a radio collar came upon us.  The dog had some tags on it. One said "leave this dog alone."  We tried to do that but it stayed with us the whole hike. Our dog was OK with him, though, so we weren't too concerned. When we returned to the parking lot (which was full by 3pm), there were some men in a pick-up truck with other dogs. They said they were waiting for our hiking buddy for a few hours. I'm not sure what else they said because the men had no teeth and had a very heavy southern accent. So, I'm still not sure what the story was with this radio collar dog. Is it legal to let your dog run around a national forest unattended? Does anybody know anything about these dogs?

A few notes of caution: The road leading up to the trail head can be a little dodgey. It's very narrow in places with no shoulder so pray that you don't have to squeeze past an oncoming car. Second, the hiking distances listed in the above description are a little off. The second half of the loop does have some significant uphill sections and is a total of 3.5 miles long according to the signs on the trail.

Mount Pleasant is one my favorites so far. The distance and difficulty were perfect for intermediate-level dayhikers like us, the views are insanely beautiful, and there were enough scattered hikers on the trail to remind us that we weren't alone, but we never felt crowded. I hate a trail where you can't pee in peace!

We were right in line with the three-to-four hour time listed on this site, but we really had to move it on the final leg to make it back to the car before dark. As a side note - there are (as noted below) some discrepancies between the trail markers and this website as to distance.

To the genius behind this website - THANK YOU!

What a fantastic view from the ridge at Mt. Pleasant. We had just completed the three-ridges hike a little ways down the parkway, and then did a figure eight starting with the Cold Mountain loop and finishing with the Mount Pleasant climb. We reached the ridge about 2pm, and the weather was sunny and in the 60-70 degree range. We just sat out on the rock all afternoon with excellent visibility and decided, 'what the heck, let's sleep out here.' So we slept under the stars on the rock ledge and headed out about 7 Saturday morning. We didn't see another soul the whole time we were up there, except for a few small animals and winged predators. -- Thanks for this site - I wouldn't have had such a great time without it!

A wonderful day hike turned into an overnighter.  If I was to do it again there are some great sites just at the bottom of the summit trail, as well as ONE campsite at the top of the summit... but you got to get there early!

Great website!  Has inspired me to get back into backpacking!