November 15, 2025
~ submitted by Sarah Duncan
7 of us met at a reasonable time at a park and ride to convoy to Cottonwood main where we used gate keys to let us onto the main extinguishing the need for the long haul walk up the logging road.
We were lucky to have two gate key holders on this trip so we were able to pack more folks in than just one vehicle would allow.
By about 9:30 after key collection, car juggling and navigating some cross ditches on Cottonwood Main we started our hike through about 200 meters of logging slash where a few of us were able to find a faint route to follow easing the clambering on the logging debris.
Entering into the forest quickly we located a slightly booted trail that led us steeply (like really steeply) up through some thick 3rd growth forest to about 800M where we came upon an old road which we followed at the 800-meter elevation for roughly 200 meters — a welcome relief for our thighs and glutes after the brisk climb up.
Then up again. 
The forest changed eventually from the dense, smallish trees to beautiful sub alpine old growth covered with wonderful lichen soon after deking off the old road and at about 1250 meters changed again to more open alpine meadows with tarns, heather, and some beautiful rock formations where we got to use our scrambling skills a bit before reaching the summit at 1485 meters. Spirits were great, the majority of the hike was in beautiful forest and more open sub alpine meadows. We were excited to get to the top and have lunch before the knee crunch decent.
The weather was bang on the reports predicted from Mountain Weather Forecast and Spot FX. We had a few blues sky moments and sun at the top.
This was a great hike, steep… over 826 meters of elevation gain in just over 2.5 kms. The hike totaled just about 5.5 kms in length and took us with breaks included 4.5 hours to complete.
Some of us saw a heard of elk on the drive in. They are common in the area, and so neat to see.