Guye Peak and Cave Ridge Trail

Rock climbers on the farthest peak

Trail Distance: 8 miles

Cummulative Elevation Gain: 3500 ft

Wild flowers

After the aborted attempt to hike Guye Peak last week, today was another opportunity to complete the intended hike with an excellent clear sunny sky. I am aware of an alternate trail that starts off from the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) trail head about a mile away. This alternate trail however is not shown on the map. So with a mind to do a bonus of Cave Ridge trail today, I trusted the mapped trail I already treaded, so as to avoid any possibility of getting lost and losing time. So I started off the same Alpental trail head and followed the same trail onto the point whereupon we quit in the previous hike, and then continued to the Guye Peak. The new section that I have covered today is not much different in gradient, but more open and mostly on rocky surface. I also noticed another trail coming up from the eastern face. This is perhaps the trail that starts at the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) trail head.

Bee on flower

 There are in fact three peaks at Guye Peak. I settled on the first and started taking pictures of the 360 degrees of views. The cars at the parking lot at the trail head appeared tiny from that height of about 2000 ft.

Looking down at the parking lot

All peaks and ridges in the surroundings were clearly visible on the clear sunny day. While munching onf my lunch pack, I was joined at the narrow top by a group of three young guys. Together, we could see two other guys atop the third peak. They reached there by rock-climbing and then proceeding towards the peak we were perched on.

Me at Guye Peak

On my return from Guye Peak, I picked up the the Cave Ridge trail as planned earlier. This is a moderately steep trail. I saw several small. yet deep pockets of packed snows. But the trail was free of snow except for a very short stretch of about 6 ft. This seems to be a less frequented trail with abundance of wild flowers around. It also provides a very close up view of the Snoqualmie Mountain to the North.

Guye Peak and Mount Rainier from Cave Ridge trail

Soon I reached the the cave,  which is located at a small and relatively flat area. The cave is in fact like a hole into the ground. From the conversation with the other three guys on Guy Peak, I learned that the cave is very narrow and at the end you would crawl forward to get to the edge of a precipice.

Information Board at cave entrance

There is an information board positioned by the cave entrance. As per the information, being alone and lacking in appropriate gadgets, I decided not to venture into the cave. In stead, I proceeded onward to the nearby hilltop for some more views and returned after spending about 15 minutes up there.

Mount Thomson

I noticed even more trails coming up from the eastern face of the mountain. So I can see a few alternative options for a future hike with more company - to use the trails from the PCT trail head, explore the cave and scale the other two peaks of Guye Peak - hopefully on one single arduous trip?

Kendall Katwalk on PCT