Parking for this trail is right near the HQ building (hence the name) and starts off on fairly level ground. But after about a third of a mile, it starts to climb and goes from ~5050 ft. to ~5300 feet. Even though we were there on a holiday weekend and had views of the full campground below, we never saw another person on this trail, so the solitude was great!
We found the lone geocache which is near the trail and then began the descent back down to road level. (By turning left at the intersection with the Indian Lodge trail.) From the end of the trail we took the road for half a mile back to the parking area. Nice short hike.