I drive a ford fusion hybrid and my car made it. Once you hit the gravel road its actually not that bad. Pretty smooth gravel road with minimal potholes. I believe this was FR-84. Well we were originally heading for High rock but "got lost." The directions to high rock weren't clear and there were more forks in the road than described and no signs for FR anything. So we took a right at a fork as described for high rock and eventually we saw a few cars parked, about 4. This was at about 10:15 am. The place didn't match the parking lot description for high rock so we asked someone if this was it. They said it was and the trail head was right down there. So we head over and see a sign that says Cora Lake. Super confused and no cell signal to double check directions, we figured we would just head out on this trail since we were already there. We thought maybe it would lead to high rock. We later ran into some other hikers who then told us the correct directions and how to get there. The trail to Cora lake was very short but all incline. Bugs weren't too bad on the hike. There were two waterfalls along the way. You do have to cross the little waterfall rivers to continue on but there's rocks and logs to step on so you wont get wet. Once at the lake, you could see high rock on the other side. We saw one group who had set up a makeshift campsite. The only other group we saw was the family who misled us at the parking lot. Pretty quiet. We found a spot on the water edge and sat down for a break. Bugs were bad. Flies and other bugs would land on you. When you tried to blow them off or shake them off they had no fear. You literally had to swat them away. We decided to go for a swim. The water was very clear and not too cold. There were little fish that would nibble at your feet and legs. When we got out of the water it was hell. Horse flies and god awful other flying insects swarmed us. We were swinging and swatting with our clothes trying to keep them off. I couldn't even put my shirt on as I would be off guard for those few seconds and a giant horse fly would land on me. As we dried up the terror bugs slowly disappeared back to the original amount. I don't know what that was about but it was unbearable the few minutes we were attacked. We left around 12:30 to head back. We ran into maybe 4 or 5 more groups of people headed up to the lake. It wasn't too crowded for it being Saturday.

Hike up to Cora Lake this afternoon with my wife and our 3 and 2 year old's. The trail had a few little bush overgrown the trail the wife and I knocked them down they were Stinging Nettle. The Waterfalls were just as beautiful as the have been before. The second water fall was a little slick but nothing uncontrollable. There was nobody else on the trail there were some people just speeding past the trail head when we started to get ready to cross to our car. The berry's were not ripe yet but I can not wait until they are. Some wild flower but nothing to amazing. 

the road to the trailhead has some pot holes but they aren't terrible or super frequent, any car can make it. started up the trail and quickly came to the first Big Creek crossing. you can clearly see the trail on the other side of the creek but how to get there? the water level was just below our knees and rushing fast. there's a waterfall on the right then it's flat ground where you cross but on your immediate left it drops off again into another waterfall. the water was way too high for waterproof boots to be effective, muck boots would have been perfect. the brave might even take off their shoes, roll up their pants and go barefoot across but we weren't feeling that adventurous and knew we would have to cross the creek again further up the trail so decided to wait until later in the season to safely cross the creek and enjoy the lake.

WE DID IT AND IT WAS THE BEST DAY EVER!!!

[I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND DOING THIS HIKE UNLESS YOU KNOW THE TRAIL SUPER WELL AND HAVE DECENT DIRECTIONAL SKILLS]

High Rock is in our backyard, the split off of Skate Creek is about 45 minutes from our home so that is our go-to short hike for after school or work or whatever. It is also how we know that summer is coming!!! Anyway, enough about us, you care about the trails!

I tagged Cora, Teeley, Bertha May and Granite, and Allen Mountain because the ROAD conditions effect them. My mom and I were actually pretty surprised at how far we got up the road considering the snow pack. As we hiked up toward the trail head, we realized we hiked about 2.1 miles from our car (parked before the snow) up to the TH. I do not recommend driving in the snow, even if you have four wheel drive like me, because that stuff will suck you in and it instantly gets about three feet deep. It is not fun to be stuck in the snow without service, trust me lol.

Once at the TH, we had half our sandwiches because we like to eat and figured we would need to refuel to use our brains properly. The rocks at the TH were clear of snow and made a nice seat, but someone left a clear tarp thing I guess you could sit on. Too big for us to pack out, will grab it and plan a big clean up party when road snow melts.

When we actually started hiking, the first 0.5 mi of the trail was actually basically snow free! You could tell you were on the trail at least! Up to 0.75 mi where the bench sits is pretty obvious. After that it gets a little, or lot, trickier. The trails starts getting covered in snow and I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND DOING THIS HIKE UNLESS YOU KNOW THE TRAIL SUPER WELL AND HAVE DECENT DIRECTIONAL SKILLS. Maybe it will be better now that we have properly broken trail and made a decent boot path to follow, but I really really don't recommend going unless you have good navigational skills/sense of direction AND have done the trail multiple times before.

From here, we were planning on following the real trail, which dips down left of the ridgeline, but this just felt wrong because I knew there was a winter route that followed the ridgeline. So if you go, after the bench there is an even split of bootprints that go high and left and another set that go low and to the right. GO LOW AND TO THE RIGHT. It does look sketchier, and it is kind of sketchy, but man that is the worst part of the trail and if you have made it this far, I definitely recommend you keep going if you make it past.

I am afraid that a lot of this will start melting out soon, making it unsafe, so if you can find a way around this section and still find our bootprints on the other side, just be safe. Once past here, everything will feel wrong if you are used to the summer trail, but oh it is so right at the end. Follow our bootprints on the ridgeline and you will get some killer views without even summitting. I don't know if this trail is accessible in the summer, I'm sure it is, but I fell in love with it. Seeing Adams, Hood, and St. Helens when you are catching your breath is much better than being in the trees! 

This route avoids the giant scree field (avalanche purposes I am sure) and lets you come up the right side of the lookout.

All mountains were out in full glory, it truly was the best day.

If you do bring your pups, be aware that there is glass between the lookout and the mountain from stupid ass kids. The bottom of the lookout has also been broken into. Really would love to schedule a clean up party once the road melts out.

On the way down, you will see bootprints across the snowfield to the right, lower than the ridgeline - go down this way. It meets up a bit before the junction where we went the wrong direction at, and is a bit more gradual. There are our footprints, then there are some idiots footprints who got way too close to tree wells and fell in a couple times. They also glissaded quite a bit, which we chose not to do. Anyway, if you found your way up, the way down isn't too bad.

Do watch out for cougars though, we definitely came across some scat, footprints, and what sounded like kittens calling. I wouldn't recommend going solo unless you take your pups with you, and in that case, make sure they are close.

We saw a group of two people and a family of four. The family of four just snowshoed the road to the TH (they had two little girls, badasses in training!), and the couple followed us but turned back at the sketchy part of the trail, which is a shame because that was the only bad part, and the views made up for it. 

Once again, I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND DOING THIS HIKE UNLESS YOU KNOW THE TRAIL SUPER WELL AND HAVE DECENT DIRECTIONAL SKILLS.

But enjoy, SUMMER IS COMING!!!