Cedar Lake Pt. Bridget Park

My friend Florence and I went to Cedar Lake July 2, 2011. She wrote a wonderful account of that hike and I have put her words here:

Have to tell you and send my photos - my friend Marcia and I took a "hike" (and I do mean a hike - probably the hardest and longest one I've ever done) last Saturday. Thank goodness we had two days after that to let our bodies heal. And - this was on my "bucket list" so it is now checked off!

We left Mile 37 at 10:30 a.m., then went down a boardwalk, down some stairs, walked over some walks on the beach, got back up into the woods and hiked the first small section. The trail is in very bad shape - roots constantly and ups and downs - and once in awhile we could walk about 25 feet on the trail without roots, but only once in awhile. We then ended up back out on the beach, the area called Akiyama Bight, and walked on the beach until we could sort of see where the trail might be - and it was there. We then went into the woods again - going up and down and down and up over roots, big steps, little steps, more bigger stepss, until we came to Camping Cove (we are now in the state park). There is a little cabin there that people can rent - it's quite a pretty spot (and looks like a good swimming beach) and has a little creek by it. There were people in the cabin, and it just so happens I knew them. We had some lunch there and a nice visit. It had taken us three hours to go two miles! And there isn't much to see as we were in the woods but once in awhile we could see the water.

Then the people showed us where the trail started again - behind the cabin and in the woods - we were off to Cedar Lake. Climbing, climbing again on a very, very rooty trail and also mud (we had muddy areas on the other wooded trails as well). We went up and up and up - climbing up to about 700', all through a yellow cedar forest. There aren't many areas in northern Southeast which have yellow cedar, so this area was pretty special. But we are still in woods. We then went down some, and got to the lake - very, very pretty, small but pretty. Needless to say we were soaking wet with sweat - soaking. So we took off all our clothes, went into the water (which was pretty chilly...) and go thoroughly refreshed. There is a little float-like thing there (about 6'x6') and then lots of sticks to try to walk on and then muddy. But it felt good! The whole trip was worth that.

We then had to continue down I think about 400' (again through a rooty, muddy trail - but we could get on our bottoms to go down easier this time). We went about 3/4 of a mile this time (the first section was about 1 1/4 miles) and ended up at the cabin at Cowee Meadows - gorgeous green - and got to have another little snack. We left the cabin about 6:10 and started two miles back to the road through the meadows - where the grass was high and it's eventime for the bears - we saw lots of bear piles and trails in the grasses but didn't see any bears. Very pretty, very pretty. We had 2.1miles to go to the road - and it took almost two hours (we felt like we were really moving along) but now we were walking on a kind of graveled area, then had to do boardwalk for quite aways (which is always precarious). We ended up in the bog by the road - sat down on the boardwalk just to enjoy the bog and had a little more snack. Then up and at 'em. We are now at 38 Mile so we still have to go a mile on the road to get to her truck. And we got there about 9:00 PM...

I will go out to the Cowee Meadows again - but take the nice route - and I may go up to Cedar Lake again - but go to the Cowee Meadows Cabin first, then up to the lake and back. We were very proud of ourselves - and Marcia gets great credit because she's older than I! And she's in good shape. Actually, I kind of held her back - but she's a good sport.