Ok so a few things to note before I get started. First note: this trail isn't that difficult; reading other reports and looking at elevation gain/loss I brought my poles along and was mentally prepared for sweat and toil but it never came. Oyster Dome nearby is much harder IMO. This trail is mostly flat/up and down with the exception of a few spots and doesn't last long. Second note: I would never say don't carry any of the ten essentials but several reports say bring a map and honestly you don't need one. Major trail intersections have great signs telling you not only where to go but how far to go and I even found a map out there to take a phone picture with. Bluntly speaking if you're dumb enough to get lost here you're probably not smart enough to read a map, though I digress....
Got to the parking lot at 9am and there were 20 or so cars in the lot then I noticed about 20-25 older females walking down from California Road and after they left it went to three cars which made me happy as I didn't feel like sharing the trail THAT much. I took the hemlock to Raptor ridge, just under four miles when I ran into some campers at the top. Top is on a rock, kind of Oyster Dome like. Wanting more I went to huckleberry view point and eventually pine and cedar lakes. Maybe 10-12 miles total (total guess) today with decent gain. The five miles to Chuckanut Falls sounds like fun so I will come back and do that later.
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