Made the long drive from the west side to find some marginally better hiking weather yesterday. Still some high overcast, but at least no rain. Parking lot was about 2/3 full at 10:45am.
This is a great social hiking trail since it is mostly on what looks like a former jeep road, so side by side walking is doable for most of the trip and the grade is pretty gradual for most of the ascent.
Yellow arrowhead balsamroot is busting about all over just above the TH and other varieties are just starting higher up. We had a nice view of the Enchantments from the Little Bear summit. There are only a few patches of snow remaining off trail near the top.
We opted to add the long loop around the summit, but you don’t see too much by going that way that you would miss. It is quite a bit more forested on that side so would offer a bit of relief on a warm, sunny day. Stats were 8 miles and 2200’ of climbing, but could have been done well with 5mi and 1800’
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Comments
happyfamilyfuntime on Cashmere Canyons Preserve
Thank you for the review. So, by doing the loop after reaching the saddle your hike ended up being around 8 miles and without doing the loop it would have been 5.5? I can't quite figure out the mileage and elevation gain for these different sections and I think 8 miles and 2200 feet would be too much for me or my hiking buddy. Thanks!
Posted by:
happyfamilyfuntime on Apr 18, 2023 02:25 PM
route distance clarification
Just hiking to the saddle and back would be about 4 to 4.5 miles with 1400' of gain. All the way to the Little Bear Summit and back is more like 5.5 miles with 1800' of gain. Doing the full loop around the peak adds another two miles and 400' of up and down. Just doing the hike to the saddle would be worthwhile, but if you can make it that far you might as well explore a bit more since getting to the ridge is most of the effort.
Posted by:
Climber Keith on Apr 18, 2023 02:38 PM