10 of us from the Mountaineers enjoyed what I call "Whittaker Reverse": Starting from the Wilderness Loop trailhead on the east side of Cougar, we started up toward Doughty Falls, then to Deceiver Pass, over to Shy Bear, and up to Whittaker summit and down via Gombu Cliffs.
The portapotty was adequately stocked, no parking pass needed.
We met at 7:30 AM and started walking at 7:48 in enough daylight that nobody needed headlamps. No traction needed at any point; it wasn't icy enough. A few people used poles; most did not.
My device said 6.75 miles though I've clocked this same distance as 7.75 miles before so... what to believe? MPH 2.2 pace in 3:21. We took about 12 minutes to enjoy sunlight streaming in at Doughty Falls, and another 15 at Whittaker. By the time we returned to the cars, people were parking on the highway.
Of note: we had a little teaching point about the different bridge crossings. The "skunk cabbage" swamp has rubberized traction; the new bridge near Doughty Falls has a texturized surface I pointed out; others are just wood and in icy or snowy conditions could be slick. We had no falls or slips -- it's just dry enough to be great everywhere, minimal mud.
We saw more people than I expected - about 20 on the morning, with several dogs. This was a nice "plan B" to our original (Talapus/Olallie Lakes) which had more snow than anticipated when I set up this hike two months ago. A lovely morning with great people. We heard 10 species of birds including a northern flicker and downy woodpecker, a number of creepers, kinglets, and chickadees, and we spotted some cool mushrooms along with plenty of pileated woodpecker recent excavations. Nice to have blue sky and calm conditions. Perfect hiking weather!
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