Cathedral Rock — Saturday, Aug. 4, 2012

Snoqualmie Region > Salmon La Sac/Teanaway

The trail to Cathedral Pass is in relatively good shape--there are no blowdowns and only a few small snow patches. There is some mud and water on the trail but nothing to worry about. We set off hiking at 10:45 am on Saturday and despite the many, many vehicles at the trailhead, we didn't see many people on the trail. There are tons of little creeklets crossing the trail the entire way so it's a great hike for a dog. We camped among the tarns about 1/2 mile short of Cathedral Pass (where the trail meets the PCT), and we got the primo spot, in between the last (biggest) and second to last tarn. It's such a pretty spot--just enough trees for shade, but open enough for stargazing. There was no one else around when we set up though some people did come in later. Though the area is quite meadowy, there aren't as many established, flat spots as you'd expect. There are one or two established spots at the pass (one is right next to the trail) but we like this area better--it's very private. There is plenty of water right now though it seems like this might dry up later in summer. Later arrivers had to settle for less ideal spots--they really had to hunt. After we set up we hiked north on the PCT for a couple miles and the trail is in good shape there, too. Bugs were fine when hiking and tolerable at camp, among the tarns, WITH jungle juice, mosquito coils AND headnets. But at dusk, after dinner, WHOA. We were under assault. We fled to the tent. It looks there was probably a beautiful sunset but they were all over our tent and we were not about to run the gauntlet to see. Even with all of my protection I have at least a dozen bites. We took a nice dip in Squaw Lake on the way down. Someone left a campfire not just smoldering, but billowing smoke, at that big campsite right next to the lake, just off the main trail. The baffling part is that the campfire was all of 7 feet from the lake. And they couldn't be bothered to put it dead-out? They also left a pig's ear which our dog found and happily ate, doing his part for litter control. The road in: The last 10 miles of road are unpaved and bad. Not the worst I've ever seen, but I wouldn't bring a passenger car (though a couple people did). It's VERY potholed and rocky. It took us 45 minutes to drive this coming back down (I didn't notice if it took less going up) in our Tacoma.