Preacher Mountain,Rainy Lake

I followed this route: http://midforc.org/perl/serv_route.pl?route_id=18

The Rainy Lake trail has been cleared out recently, all the blowdowns from last winter have been removed and the trail is brushed out.

From Rainy Lake I took the ridge east of Rainy Lake, when it got cliffy I stayed to the right of the ridge top (the lake side) below the cliffs. The brush started out heavy, but after the first few hundred vertical feet it improved considerably. When the ridge petered out around 4,880 feet I followed a bearing to the little lake southeast of Rainy Lake. The little lake was deep enough for a swim and had some nice spots for camping nearby, although in the wet season they may be very soggy. From the little lake I headed southwest up the side of the amphitheater then followed a bearing to the summit, skirting the bottom of the boulder field near the summit. The summit had a survey marker and a cairn, but I did not find a register. The view from the summit was 360 degrees and included a surprising number of lakes.

Total time including lunch: 9h 45m. Car to Rainy Lake: 2h 25m. Rainy Lake to summit: 3h 15m. Summit to Rainy Lake: 1h 30m. Rainy Lake to car: 2h.

I saw no other people on the trail.