We were looking for a good conditioning hike nearby, and this one fit the bill.
Located at the Staircase entrance of Olympic National Park. The hike to Wagonwheel lake is 2.9 miles and 3200 ft elevation gain. Continuing on up to Cub Peak is another 0.5 mile with an additional 800 ft elevation gain.
We were glad it was a cool, cloudy day, because the steep uphill climb had us sweating.
We found some wild blueberries to eat along the way.
After 2 miles, the trail levels out, along an avalanche chute
are some views of the nearby Sawtooth Range.
Wagonwheel lake was a deep green color. Originally, I couldn't find where the path crossed the creek to the Cub Peak trail, so we headed to the right, climbed a little ridge and enjoyed half our lunch.
We found the rough trail down to the creek, went across and started the climb up to Cub Peak, and soon found the "sunny overlook" over Wagonwheel Lake as it's described in the hiking book.
The trail up to Cub Peak is a boot path, very easy to go off trail in parts.
As long as you are heading straight up, you find the path again.
Once we reached the meadow in the saddle, it was easy to see Cub Peak and the way up.
Copper Mountain is in the background.
From the top we could see Mt Ellinor & Mt Washington to the east.
Mt Pershing, the Brothers and Mt Constance to the north.
and the Sawtooth Range to the west.
To the south ,the false summit of Cub Peak and the southern Olympic mountains.
While enjoying the views and the rest of our lunch,
we heard thunder and saw the clouds rolling in, time to descend.
On the way down, we caught a glimpse of Wagonwheel Lake down below.
It was a very steep descent, it took us as long to descend as it did to climb up.
4000 ft in 3.4 miles (my sister's GPS said 4400 ft if you count the total ups & downs)
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