This was a nice family hike. We had the trail/lake to ourselves the whole time. The road was really rough with many pot holes and lots of dust. Once we got there we started up the trail with our little one being carried in the back pack. The water fall parts over the trail was easy to walk past but water proof shoes were nice to prevent feet from getting wet. Our dog was easily able to cross the water. I would use caution with any children under 10years to cross by themselves because some parts (rocks) were slippery. The forest at times were dark but beautiful. Once we got to the top there was a place to have a fire, some trash that People left and Cora Lake! The most amazing thing...... there were a million frogs at the base of the water!!! Not one open spot to step in the water without harming the little frogs! 🐸 It was peaceful up there, but had the appearance of being a little dirty due to people not cleaning up their trash. Also, due to the frogs, and color of the lake, we did not want to touch the water. But it was a pretty and fun hike! Can't wait to go there again.

this is a great short hike to a nice lake. trailhead was easy to find, only 1 other car there. it climbs uphill, crossing over a creek twice with nice falls, shoes stayed dry. plenty of ripe berries along the way. 1 person at the lake and they left shortly after I arrived. very peaceful and quiet. once I heard someone yell from high point but why not? such a gorgeous day, I didn't mind the celebratory cheer!

Hike was beautiful and zig-zags across a waterfall. Smaller children can be intimidated by crossing through as there is no bridge, but still passable (feet will surely get wet even with ankle boots) Bugs were present, but not terrible. Lake shore was FULL of tadpoles and the kids loved checking them out. They did not swim, but did get in about waste deep to play - no leeches! Chipmunks were abundant and not shy so be sure to keep food safe. Pretty smooth spot for camping with existing fire pits - did find quite a few empty liquor bottles that we chose to pack up and hike out for disposal (c'mon people!) A son and father hiking through did some fishing and caught two within 5 minutes. While it was steep, it was much easier in comparison from having just came off of high rock. (in fact, you can see Cora Lake from High Rock and vice-versa)

The hike was beautiful but a little steep for the kids, 9 and 4. Possibly because the trail conditions were not great. There wasn't an obvious place to get to the lake either, a few camp grounds that you can walk through if nobody is there. Otherwise fun.

This is offered more as a cautionary tale. We have two large, older dogs, so a short hike is pretty much all we can do with them. This trail really appealed to us, but sadly, the trail slopes inward toward what in parts was a small stream (the rains finally came the night before we tried this hike) and after maybe a quarter mile, we decided it just wasn't going to work for our dogs. They had a hard time keeping their footing and slipped right into the middle "gully" on the trail several times before we gave up and turned around. We were disappointed, but just wanted to mention this -- it's not a smooth trail, so if you or your companions have any difficulties with walking on uneven, occasionally slippery surfaces, this is not the trail for you. On another note, we ended up just walking the dogs along the Forest Roads, and we were really saddened by the amount of garbage that had been left around the little campsites off to the side of the road. We picked up a few bottles but we couldn't get everything -- there were empty cases of beer, clothing, towels, tons of cigarette butts, candy wrappers. Really disappointed in the people who camp in this part of Gifford Pinchot.