Cultus Creek

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The trail climbs sharply through a forest of Douglas fir for a mile to a view of the Goat Rocks, Sawtooth Mountain, Mt. Rainier, and Mt. Adams. From this viewpoint you get a great view of Mt.Adams and the Goat Rocks. It's worth bringing a camera for this one. From there the path continues uphill to a small meadow below Bird Mts.' cliffs before the trail levels off for a mile to an unmarked junction at your first view of Cultus Lake. Continue right around beautiful, alpine Cultus Lake to a junction with the Lemei Trail.

Driving Directions:

From Portland take I-84 to the Cascade Locks exit 44. Cross the Bridge of the Gods. Turn right on Highway 14 for 6 miles. Then turn left on Highway 30 and go through the town of Carson. Stay on the highway for 30.3 miles. Make sure you keep right at the fork at 14 1/2 mile mark. Then turn right on gravel Lone Butte Road (Road 30) for 7.9 miles. Then turn right on gravel Road 24 for 4 miles to the Cultus Creek Campground. Park at the far end of the campground loop by a sign that reads Indian Heaven Trail.

Recent Trip Reports

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There are 2 trip reports for this hike.

Cultus Creek #108 — Sep 15, 2001 — johnm

Day hike

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Cultus Creek trail to Clear Lake Date: 9/02/01 Couple weeks late, but I did this hike with some old friends...

Cultus Creek trail to Clear Lake Date: 9/02/01

Couple weeks late, but I did this hike with some old friends during my visit to White Salmon. I was down there to do some squawfishing...you can make money by turning in squawfish 9 inches or over. They prey on juvenile salmon. I used to worked on the project years ago.

Anyway, the trail is in excellent condition. Not much in the way of views for the first 1 mile or so. After that it opens up and you get some good views of goatrocks, mount adams, rainier, etc.

We first went to Cultus lake. After that, we took a half mile spur to Deep Lake...a much nicer lake in my opinion! Oh, cultus means ""bad"" in Indian. Indians would not camp at Cultus because they believe a family of bigfoots lived there. I happen to be a believer of Sasquatch. A friend saw one over by the Klickitat river in June and I knew a few others who've seen the beast as well.

Finally, we continued on to Clear Lake. The blueberries were out full force!

Oh, warning: camping is restricted at Blue and at a nearby lake (can't remember name but real close by). Only two designated camps at Blue and one at the other lake and you need to pitch tent within 20 feet of the damn pole (""tent""). My old friend went backpacking in this area weekend after we did this hike. They were disappointed (Blue filled) and thus hiked to a lake off trail.

RT to Clear lake was roughly 5.5 miles or so and about 1300 feet plus or minus.

Happy Hiking!

John M.

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Cultus Creek #33 — Aug 21, 1999 — Don Dutton

Day hike

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Trail #33 to Cultus Lake almost clear of snow except for patches just before lake. No problems along the...

Trail #33 to Cultus Lake almost clear of snow except for patches just before lake. No problems along the trail. The west shore of Cultus very muddy with lots of snow. No dry camping spots available. Deep Lake has no snow but it's still very wet around the lake. Few dry camping spots. Mosquitos are just coming into their own with the warm weather. Three hikers passed us coming down from Bear Lake where they said you couldn't take a breath without inhaling them. They actually broke down their camp and left because they couldn't take it. Fishing was OK for small rainbows in Deep Lake. Apparently it was better up at Bear if you could deal with the mosquitos. We didn't try Cultus. Not many flowers. I don't know if it's too late or they're still to come.

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Location

Cultus Creek (#108)

South Cascades -- Indian Heaven / Trapper Creek

Gifford Pinchot National Forest

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