Cherry Point Trail returning via Salmon Lake.
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 8.26 mi
- Elevation gain
- 1,368 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Difficult
- Elevation loss
- 1,368 ft
- Max elevation
- 6,814 ft
- TrailRank
- 32
- Min elevation
- 5,797 ft
- Trail type
- Loop
- Time
- 8 hours 48 minutes
- Coordinates
- 2430
- Uploaded
- February 20, 2019
- Recorded
- June 2018
near Cisco, California (United States)
Viewed 225 times, downloaded 0 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
Cherry Point Trail is a more adventuresome and less traveled option in the Loch Leven area. I rate this as difficult for a hike, but it is easy for a bushwhack or scramble. Scenery includes a creek, a pond , a mix of open granite, distant views, meadows and forest. There is no trail to the pond at 2.3 miles in and you have to wade through some low brush to get there but it is worth the effort.
There are some steep sections including several that are more rocky creek bed than trail, some complete with water just after the snow melted. Lots of downed trees add to not being very bike friendly but we did meet a hardy hiker/biker. There are also sections of easy dirt roads. The rough going wore out my friend so our time on the easy salmon lake trail was slower than normal.
GPS advised. There is a hard to spot small Big Granite Trail sign at the trail head just before you get to a logged area suitable for parking and another obvious sign at the Loch Leven intersection with nothing in between but occasional flagging and not always accurate ducks. It is easy to lose the trail due to false trails and untracked granite.
You can do this as an 8.4 mile out and back starting at the Big Granite Trail head or as a 7.9 mile loop including ¾ miles of the seldom used road 38 with the bonus of two Loch Leven Lakes and Salmon Lake. The loop lets you start from Salmon Lake trail head which you have to drive past anyway.
The road from Lake Valley Reservoir up to the split from the road to Sugar Pine Point Trail is rough but does not need a high clearance vehicle. There is parking at the split. After the split, the last ¼ mile has large water bars and a high clearance vehicle like a stock pickup or SUV is advised. Don’t need 4WD. There are far fewer signs than roads and Google does not know about any roads much past Lake Valley. See https://www.wikiloc.com/car-trails/drive-big-granite-trail-head-33311927 for the drive to the Big Granite Trailhead.
No fees or facilities. There are lakes, creeks and ponds for water.
There are some steep sections including several that are more rocky creek bed than trail, some complete with water just after the snow melted. Lots of downed trees add to not being very bike friendly but we did meet a hardy hiker/biker. There are also sections of easy dirt roads. The rough going wore out my friend so our time on the easy salmon lake trail was slower than normal.
GPS advised. There is a hard to spot small Big Granite Trail sign at the trail head just before you get to a logged area suitable for parking and another obvious sign at the Loch Leven intersection with nothing in between but occasional flagging and not always accurate ducks. It is easy to lose the trail due to false trails and untracked granite.
You can do this as an 8.4 mile out and back starting at the Big Granite Trail head or as a 7.9 mile loop including ¾ miles of the seldom used road 38 with the bonus of two Loch Leven Lakes and Salmon Lake. The loop lets you start from Salmon Lake trail head which you have to drive past anyway.
The road from Lake Valley Reservoir up to the split from the road to Sugar Pine Point Trail is rough but does not need a high clearance vehicle. There is parking at the split. After the split, the last ¼ mile has large water bars and a high clearance vehicle like a stock pickup or SUV is advised. Don’t need 4WD. There are far fewer signs than roads and Google does not know about any roads much past Lake Valley. See https://www.wikiloc.com/car-trails/drive-big-granite-trail-head-33311927 for the drive to the Big Granite Trailhead.
No fees or facilities. There are lakes, creeks and ponds for water.
Waypoints
Waypoint
0 ft
pond
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