Cora Lake via Big Creek Trail — Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025

I was originally planning on hiking to Greenwood Lake, but the road to the High Rock trailhead was closed off so I decided to take the Big Creek Trail to Cora Lake instead. I didn't start until 10:30 because it was my first time in the area and I needed to drive back down to where there's internet in order to look up and pick a trail.

Anyway, I'm glad I picked this one. It was a pretty short hike, not just because it's not far to the lake, but because the trail was full of these tiny baby frogs. I love frogs! Most of the time there would just be one or two of them ahead of me and despite the fact that they camouflage perfectly with the trail all I had to do was watch my step. But every few hundred feet or so there would be dozens and it would make stepping over them safely challenging. By the time I reached the lake they were swarming. I was wanting to hike further down the trail, but with the slow going, constantly watching where I step and scaring all these poor little baby frogs half to death, I decided to call it and head back.

I didn't see any past trail reports mention this, so maybe I just lucked into the exact day that all the frogs were swarming. I'll probably stop by and check out this trail again in a few weeks when the road to High Rock opens back up just to see what's going on with the frogs. Regardless, it was a memorable hike and the lake was beautiful.