Cayuse Horse Camp, Tucquala Meadows, and Pete Lake, Washington

My original plan was to head to the Wallowa's for a week, but a weather check revealed there was a lot of thunderstorm activity happening in that area, so a quick change to Plan B sent me over to Cayuse Horse Camp in the Wenatchee National Forest in Cle Elum Washington.

Cayuse Horse Camp.

When I got there I did not have much time left in the day, so I started to do a quick ride up a pretty steep and rocky trail out of camp, called Jolly Mountain. After much sweating and huffing and puffing on my horses part, (it was a hot day) I realized getting to the top was going to take too long, so I turned around about half way. I was going to go back and do it again on another day, but I never did, since so many other trails were beckoning me. I heard from people in camp it was 12 miles with 4000 feet elevation gain and the views are splendid at the top.

This camp has an interesting arrangement where the 14 campsites are in a separate area from the corrals, which are all together in one big grid. Except for the double sites, each camp that you pay for is a single site and comes with one corral. So if you went with friends they would all have to pay for their own sites, OR you can get one of the bigger corrals (you pick your own when you arrive) but then your horses would all have to be together in one corral. A good money maker for the camp, I am guessing. You are supposed to check in with the camp host when you get there, he is a very nice friendly fellow with maps to hand out, and a lot of advice on the trail systems. There are wheelbarrows, a dumpster, and recycling cans. Also some slight upgrades, such as a light that comes on in the bathrooms after dark, and hand sanitizer! It was $20 per night at the time, although it appears to have gone up to $21.00 since then. The camp is about 17 miles from Cle Elum on a paved road.

The communal corrals.

A plaque near camp.

On my second day I decided to do the long ride to Waptus Lake. There is a tie trail that leaves from camp but I learned that it is quicker to just ride down the road to the trailhead approx 3/4 of a mile away. You have to ride on the road eventually anyway, and cross a bridge over the Cle Elum river which is directly across the street from camp.

The Cle Elum River.

From the Salmon la Sac Trailhead, Waptus Lake is a 22 mile ride not including the short jaunt from camp... so 23.5 miles all together.
You ride beside the Waptus river for most of it, and it is a flat and easy trail.

The Waptus River.

The Waptus River.

Arriving at the lake there are beautiful peaks to behold including Bears Breast Mountain.

Waptus Lake.

On day 3 I decided to take on one of the steeper trails in the area, so I picked the Pollalie Ridge Trail, mostly because everyone in camp said....."No, don't do it" or "Good luck with that"!
Granted, it isn't for out of shape horses, but it could have been worse. We were not on any cliff sides that were dangerous, it was simply a steep long climb, over 3000 feet elevation gain.Various areas were rocky, and on parts of the trail, on the way down especially, I felt like it was better to dismount a few times to make it easier on my horse.This is only 10 miles all together, but it takes a long time.
The goal was to get to Diamond Lake which we achieved.
I stayed at the lake for about an hour and a half for my horse to rest and eat and then we headed down. I met only one person on the trail all day, a solo female hiker.

Rina at Diamond Lake.

Diamond Lake.

The following day I decided to rest my horse ...I was thinking bringing two horses into that kind of country might have been a good idea, but I just had my one sweet pony with me, so she had the day off, and I went to Cle Elum to get a screw out of my horse trailer tire. Thank goodness there was a Shell station with a garage open on a Sunday.

Day 5, was an adventure, I had asked the host and many other horse campers whether anyone had driven up the dirt road past camp. I knew there were some trail options I had read about in a hiking book and I wanted to go to the Tucquala Meadows Trailhead. No one had ventured there, and had no info to share, so I decided to try it anyway. 11 miles on this very bumpy, slow going, potholed road took an hour and a half  BUT I was glad I did the drive.
I rode the Cathedral Rock trail, which ended up being the best views I saw the whole trip. I ended up in the middle of the mountains I had seen in the background of Waptus Lake. This trail has a little over 2000 feet elevation gain to Cathedral Rock itself.

Cathedral Rock.

Then hang a left on the PCT from there for just a few minutes and.... TA DA!
This ride is only 10 miles but with the bumpy drive both ways, it turned into a long day.

From the PCT at the end of Cathedral Rock Trail.

Cathedral Rock Trail.

On my last day I packed up, and then drove to the trailhead for Pete Lake. This is the ride that everyone raves about in the area, I think because it is an easy trail with a nice view at the end. You can do a long version from camp which is about 17.5 miles, or the short version from the trailhead which is 8 miles. I still had to drive home that day, so I did the short version. The trailhead is about a 7 mile drive from camp.
It was a wet and drizzly day and the view from Pete Lake was partially obscured by clouds when I got there, so I missed out on seeing what all the fuss was about. Also I chose to not spend a lot of time at the lake, since there was a strange backpacker guy lying in a sleeping bag without a tent, and he looked very cranky.

Pete Lake.

There is another ride that I did not do called the Cooper River Trail, which is 8 miles and good for novice riders or green horses. I felt like in a week I had barely scratched the surface of the riding in this area. Although there are a few easier rides, most have a lot of steep elevation gain, and so a fit horse is a must.
I met some very nice campers, and even plan to meet up again with a couple of people who drive all over Canada and the States to camp and ride...my kind of folks!


GPS COORDINATES TO CAYUSE

GPS COORDINATES TO TUCQUALA MEADOWS TH

GPS COORDINATES TO PETE LAKE TH