Traversing across buttes and craters, hikers will wander over a colorful, twisted lava landscape to the Great Rift while enduring desert like conditions. From the trailhead, follow the trail 0.25 miles to the junction with Wilderness Trail. Bear right along Wilderness Trail and utilize cairns to travel between Big Cinder and Half Cone Buttes. At the 3-mile mark, stay to the right at a trail junction while crossing Trench Mortar Flat and proceed to Coyote Butte. Here, travel 0.75 miles northeast to Echo Crater, paralleling the Great Rift to the left. Proceed 1 mile southeast from Echo Crater to reach the large lava cone known as Watchman at the 4.5-mile mark. Staying along the Great Rift to avoid the jagged lava flows off-trail, travel 0.5 miles to the Sentinel’s northwest side. Here, the trail begins its loop back to the trailhead. Best months for hiking are late May to early June and late fall due to extremely hot temperatures during peak summer months.