Cathedral Rock — Saturday, Jul. 9, 2022

Road is in good condition, no potholes, but does have slight washboarding. Creek is flowing over the road in 2 parts, about 20 inches deep. Stick to the left of both water crossings in the road with your vehicle and you can make it through the shallower parts. High clearance recommended because of these crossings, though there was 1 sedan at the trailhead. Trail has many downed logs but are easy enough to go over or under. Many water crossings on the trail, only a couple are a few inches deep and rushing water, could be dangerous if you don't have sure footing. Past Squaw Lake, the rest of the trail is snowpack. My party had trouble finding the trail in several places and considered turning around. With some persistence, we studiously looked for footprints in the snow, and found patches of trail showing through when we lost the footprints. Between looking for the trail and actually trudging through the snow, the last 1.5 miles to Cathedral Rock took us 90 minutes. (We did the first 2.5 miles, snow-free, in 90 minutes.) Eventually we got to a point where the footprint trail was easy to follow, so the way from there was clear, but slow going across snow fields. We stopped at a rock outcropping on the right hand side along the way to take photos; after that we made it within a 1/2 mile of cathedral rock and decided we were tired and weren't sure if we could get above the trees for better views anyway (new to this trail and we're not climbers), so we turned around. Highlights included 3 frogs along the trail, and hearing a chorus of frogs along the way! Please remember your Northwest Forest Pass; Discover Pass is no good here. 3 vehicles had tickets when we returned to the trailhead.