I took a one-night backpack from Deer Park to Cedar Lake. The Three Forks Trail was in great shape: a recent log-out made it obstacle-free. It's a big 3200-ft drop from the trailhead to Three Forks Shelter, but the gradient is pretty reasonable. The Upper Gray Wolf Trail was in great shape as well. A WTA volunteer crew had recently logged and brushed it out as far as Camp Ellis, and did a lot of turnpike and drainage work. Between Camp Ellis and Falls Camp, there were a few blowdowns, but it wasn't bad.
The Cedar Lake Way Trail wasn't as bad as I'd been expecting. From Falls Camp, it climbs 1200 ft in 2 miles. There were a few blowdowns, some boggy areas, a fair amount of brush, and some particularly steep stretches, but it wasn't hard to follow. I was able to rock-hop the crossing over Cedar Creek.
It took me 8 hours to hike from Deer Park to Cedar Lake, moving steadily but not fast. My progress was slowed by all the ripe huckleberries, which I couldn't help but snack on.
The sky was overcast when I arrived at the lake, but it was lovely. There was one party camped at a site on the west side of the outlet stream. I wandered the paths west of there, where there were a few other not-very-appealing potential campsites, then crossed back over the outlet stream and followed a faint path to an excellent campsite on the east side of the outlet stream.
Bugs weren't too bad. No flies, but a few mosquitoes. I fired up my Thermacell and that kept them at bay.
Dawn over Cedar Lake was clear and beautiful. I got hiking at 7, and was back at the trailhead at 3:30. The long climb out of Three Forks at the end of the day was a grunt, but not too terrible. My total mileage for the hike was 24.5, with a total elevation gain of 6740 ft.
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