Cathedral Rock — Sunday, Sep. 5, 2010

Snoqualmie Region > Salmon La Sac/Teanaway

Intended to do the deception pass loop but but as we headed up the trail to squaw lake the backcountry ranger told us that it has been snowing and hailing at the passes. We weren't equpipped very well for snow so we decided to camp at the lake. It rained hard all the way up to the lake so the trail was very muddy and slick. By the way this is not a hike for little kids. The elevation gain will kill little ones but my 12 year old daughter blazed up with a pack on. We were the only ones camping at the lake. Saw several people bugging out from higher elevations due to bad weather. Cold overnight but woke up to a bit of sunshine and no rain. The lake was beautiful in the sunshine. Hiked up to Cathedral rock in the morning and saw Cathedral rock for about 10 minutes before the clouds rolled in and we couldn't see 10 feet. The extent of the wildlife was a couple of quail (grouse??) that ran away from us. The one plus to all the rain was that there were NO bugs. On the hike down the trail from squaw lake to the trailhead was DESTROYED due to horses. You would think that people would have more sense than taking heavy animals on a wet trail but evidently not. One more reason to keep the horses out of the backcountry in my opinion.