This is a marvelous short hike down to Lost Lake, and is upside-down since you first descend then get your exercise on the way back. Recently dedicated after countless volunteer hours, the trail is a real masterpiece with around 200 beautifully placed and crafted stair treads. Thanks so much!! Just a little mud down by the lake but no big deal. Highly recommend this one.

The trail is the destination. It can be hard keeping your balance while looking up at the rock formations along this route. We made our turn around at the north east end of Lost Lake. On our way back and arriving at the gate at the lower end of the Rock Trail we considered making a loop via the South Lost Lake Trail, the Double Diamond Trail and then dropping down to the Cyrus Gates Overlook-but then we would miss experiencing the rock cliffs on the way back. We took the Rock Trail back up. Most of the mud we encountered was as you approach the north west side of Lost Lake but the short trip to the lake is worth it as the Skunk Cabbage is in full bloom and there was one small area along the trail where there are about seventy Trillium that will be blooming in the next week. We hiked in a low cloud that shrouded the cliffs. It lent a mysterious quality to the trail through the cliffs. The trail is an amazing example of technical engineering (like the steps) aesthetic design.

This is getting to be my favorite low elevation hike, and I don't think many people do my version incorporating various trails for a good work out. I started at the Clayton Beach/Lost Lake parking lot and headed up the Interurban trail north to the Fragrance Lake trail junction about 1/8 from the parking lot. From there it's a quick two miles up gorgeous coastal forest to a junction with the Fragrance Lake road. I took a right a short distance to the Lost Lake trail junction. Instead of heading directly toward Lost Lake, I took the obscure path leading up to the summit of North Chuckanut. This trail is affectionately called, "Chin scraper". Hmmm, wonder why..... This is one of my favorite trails in the Chuckanuts, and you've got to be mindful of mountain bikers here, but they're almost always considerate about sharing the trail with us hikers and we should be too! Especially since they built and maintain it. After a short, steep mile you come to a junction. Go left and you're at Cleator Road, a right and you're at the start of the Rock Trail......a wonder of a trail if ever there was one. Stairs and scenery and fantastic rock walls. Many good people spent long hours building this trail so enjoy! After about 1.2 miles you come to a junction where you can either take a right and a quick 4 1/2 miles back to the trailhead, or you can do what I did, take a left and continue to Lost Lake for lunch. (I do like alliterations!) I then continued south past Lost Lake for a 1/2 mile or so to another junction. The left goes "who knows where", but I suspect to the logging roads eventually connecting to Blanchard Mt. and Oyster Dome. I took a right here which goes steeply up through mud and eventually a clearcut leading to South Chuckanut and the recent (five years or so) logging catastrophe. Well, the views are great, but I don't think it's a fair trade for the wonderful forest that used to be here. After guzzling some mango juice I took a south trending logging road leading down to the Fragrance Lake Road and the trailhead. As friendly as people are around here, it's always nice to leave them behind as the route from Lost Lake to the Fragrance Lake junction is almost always solo. Don't forget to stop at the Edison Bakery coming or going. And while you're in the neighborhood, it's always nice to visit B'ham. A great town and according to a new study the fifth fittest city in the USA!

We parked at the Cyrus Gates Overlook parking lot. The 1.2 mile Rock Trail is a magnificent work of art as it travels beside massive Chuckanut sandstone cliffs on its way to meet the South Lost Lake Trail. I counted 174 stairs along the way. There were many muddy sections on the Lost Lake Trail especially as we neared the rock above the lake where we had lunch. We found an "Official Letterbox" near our lunch rock with a small book stamped "Joe Otter" inside. There were many blooming skunk cabbages in the boggy areas along the Lost Lake Trail. We recommend reading Taum Sauk's many trail reports which describe in words and pictures the building of this trail. Thank you to Ken Wilcox and Arlen Bogaards designers of the trail and to all the volunteers who spent many hours and hard work building the trail! :)! The official dedication is scheduled for 4-26.

was a wonderful hike! take a left at the first fork, then a right at the second; we took a right at the first fork and ended up in a huge deforested clearing outside of larabee park, the view of the sound was pretty but it was kind of desolate