American Ridge, Swamp Lake & Cougar Lakes — Sunday, Aug. 3, 2003

Mount Rainier Area > Chinook Pass - Hwy 410

I headed out on a bright sunny day to go to Cougar Lakes for the night. The last six miles of the road is bumpy but passable by family sedans - it just goes slow. Keep to the right on all turns and finish up on Forest Service road #1800. Go to the end where there is a large parking lot. After half mile, there is the Bumping River to ford; it is just walk right across but it was doable both in the morning and mid afternoon. I suggest good waterproof boots or Tevas. After that, it is a slow grade up through old growth forest to Swamp Lake. I stopped for a pleasant lunch at one of the camp sites. In another half mile is the junction with the American Ridge Trail. There is a left turn here and soon a nice bridge across the stream. The trail splits and there are no signs. To the left is the Cougar Lakes trail; to the right, the American Ridge trail continues to American Lake and the PCT. I turned left. The Cougar Lakes trail is in bad shape with many deep ruts that go to 3-4 feet deep. There are many large rocks. Nonetheless, it is easy to follow to Little Cougar Lake - a spendid little lake. Most of the camp sites have been closed for restoration but I found a very nice one at the south end of Big Cougar Lake. The lake is cool but not cold and I had a lovely swim. There are many bugs here and I made a generous donation to them. The next day, I continued on the Cougar Lakes trail to the PCT. This was just beautiful with fields of flowers of all colors in full bloom. The junction of the Cougar Lakes trail with the PCT is not marked and would be very hard to see coming down the PCT from the North - it is at 5700 feet and there is a PCT marker on a tree by it. I headed north to more flowers and wonderful views of Mt. Rainier, Goat Rocks, Mt. Saint Helens and Mt. Adams. This was the most scenic part of the trip. After 1.5 miles, I turned right on the well marked American Ridge Trail and lunched at American Lake. The flower all through here were just magnificant. The trail continues back to the junction with the Cougar Lakes trail and then to the Swamp Lake trail. The loop could be made either way but I suggest going to Cougar Lakes first as the ascent to the PCT trail from there is much easier on the body than decending due to the poor condition of the trail. This is a great one night trip.