The gravel road along Lake Cushman leading to the paved park entrance is actually in pretty decent shape! A couple areas of small potholes here and there, but trust me, I've seen it literally look a cheese grater. It's pristine right now.
If there is one thing you remember from this review, it's to wear long pants. The trail is very overgrown in many parts. I was absolutely SOAKED by the time I reached Cub Peak!
Backing up...So, I arrived at the parking lot at 7:00 am and discovered I was the second car there. I didn't see anyone all the way up to the lake or Cub Peak. One thing about this trail is that you can almost always count on solitude! The solitude comes at an acceptable price if you like a challenge: a fairly steep climb for sure. Once you get within 1,000 ft of the lake, some nice slippery alder roots are thrown in for extra fun! The lake is cute, but nothing terribly special. The true draw here is Cub Peak. You might need offline navigation to find the fork where you pick up the climber's trail to Cub Peak. It's not super obvious, and you have to backtrack just a little from the lakeshore.
The trail meanders through the forest to a few campsites. It then pitches straight up. If you thought the trail to the lake was hard....that was just warm-up! There are no switchbacks here, and you go straight up. Steeply. Views start to open up if you stop and turn around for a second. The trail (and I) stopped at the top (false summit), and I enjoyed some nice views and that glorious sun that will go away soon. The traverse over to the true summit looked questionable, and there isn't much of a trail so to speak. The only difference is that at the false summit, you will get unobstructed views to the west, while at the true summit, you will get unobstructed views to the east.
As I was headed down, I ran into my first human of the day. I ran into three more while I descended. It was a very slipper descent with the recent rain. Poles were very helpful.
Comments