We arrived at CMR around 11am on Saturday, plenty of parking and honestly not as busy as I expected. CMR is under construction (surprise) so expect some chaos when you get to the base area. After a quick stop at the restrooms and to confirm with the gondola operator that they are indeed still over charging (when I was a kid... okay, it was only 2010, the gondi cost $20 to ride, now it is $44, this could turn into a rant but it won't) we got out on the trail.
The trail head is easily visible from the base area and CMR has done a great job with signage along the way. Past reports had stated there were some confusing crossings and we did not find that to be the case. The first pitch up is probably the hardest half mile and then it mellows out after a while. We played leap frog with another group all the way to lake.
The approach to the lake is worth admission alone. There is a wonderful meandering stream that escorts you to the water's edge and could probably only be photographed properly from a drone to showcase the full meadow. Too bad drones are banned in this area (for good reason).
I took a dip in the lake while she lounged in the sun. Bugs were noticeable and not awful if you're on the move but sitting too long did yield some bites. We brought bear spray but not bug spray, I don't think they're interchangable. At the lake, we decided to push on to the summit which was only about 2 miles more than going back down and we got to avoid the steep grade in the last ½ mile which always adds some agony to the recovery process, our knees thanked us. Up we went.
There are several more picture perfect meadows along the way before you cross out into the expanse of the ski area. It was hot but the breeze was nice as we crisscrossed the open slopes. Traffic started to pick up the closer we got to the top. We did run into a family of five who were heading down and I advised them there would be a prize if they found my pocket knife at the lake as I could not find it in my bag or person. If they read this, I'm sorry to inform them it was stuck somewhere randomly in my bag and fell out as I put it on for the last time at the base area much to my surprise. Thanks for looking if you did! Hopefully, it kept the kids engaged for the last 3 miles.
Beers were cold at the top and we hopped the gondola back down for some tacos at the base area. I would do this one again and target a later afternoon/evening start to get the benefit of sunset at the top. Gondola downlift service might be a challenge with the sunset dinner crowd, not sure if they limit capacity to those riders after a certain point.
Observations worth sharing:
- This trail is more like 5 miles or less, definitely not 6. Mapped prior to hiking with ridewithgps.com and from the base area (not parking lot) this was predicted at 2.1 miles. Observed distance was 2.5 miles, either way, not 6 miles as billed. Elevation is spot on.
- There is road construction at various points on hwy 410 and at least one section of flagged one way traffic. This slowed us up a bit but not awful, just dusty.
- While "A" lot parking was still available, we recommend not parking past the bottle neck in the road into A lot. The spots are very tight and if you have a big truck/van/suv, you'll be hard pressed to get out when they box all the cars in around you. We've seen people get stuck before and it isn't pretty. You risk the Austin Powers 80 point turn if you choose to park there; yeah baby, yeah!
- The line to get back on the gondola looked long but it moved quickly. They weren't loading 8 to a car (ours was 4) so in typical CMR fashion they did not maximize their lift potential. Maybe it was for COVID reasons?
- Watch for hikers above if you go to the Summit. There is a trail above the traverse that could drop rocks down on you, very risky as we saw a guy and his dog struggling through the shale. Nothing dropped on us fortunately.
Comments