Cathedral Rock Fire Tower Hike

Cathedral rock fire tower hike is a very easy hike that requires very little time to complete. The trails are very well marked and the parking lot is huge. There was also a portable potty where I parked before and there was a portable fountain outside to wash our hands. The parking lot had a couple of camping RVs when I went there so it looks like this is a popular place to camp. The parking lot seemed like a place for rich people. It was very clean, lots of amnesties and seemed safe and hospitable place to spend the night.

Cathedral Rock Fire Tower Important Information

Trail Map: Trail Map 1
Suggested Phone GPS Apps: Alltrails.com, Avenza Maps, Google Maps

Difficulty: Easy
Distance: 2 Miles
Elevation Gained: ~300 ft
Portable Toilet At Parking: Yes

Trail Breakdown
0.5 Mile Flat Trail
0.5 Mile Going Up
1 Mile Going Back

Note: The information is just an approximation.

Parking

44.146470, -74.904176

Start Of The Hike

The parking lot was impressive. It was immense, with various trailers and campers parked inside. The portable toilet smelled like lavender and outside of it was a portable fountain to wash our hands. The fountain was even equipped with paper towels and soaps to wash our hands. The place was not only clean but various plants and flowers were planted to make the surroundings look gorgeous. It was as if I stumbled upon a parking lot for the rich and not for the common people.

Trail

I let out a deep sigh as a thousand mosquitoes buzzed around my face so I hurried back to my car and took my rain jacket with me. It was going to be one of those hikes that was going to be frustrating, I thought to myself. But the hike was easy and short according to the information that I had gathered so I kept going.

Trail

The footpath was mostly flat and easy to traversed but I couldn’t really pay attention as the swarm of mosquitoes kept following me around. I hate these little buggers with a passion. All these insects wanted to do was bite and suck the blood out of me.

Trail Numbers

Like most trails with fire towers, this hike had numbers 1 to 10 as well with one being near the trail head and ten being near the fire tower.

Trail Number 10

The trail also had the number 10 on white background from the start to finish.

Trail Number 7

The hike was very short as I was at number 7 in so little time or maybe I was just hiking like a madman because of the multitude of bugs that was out to suck my blood.

Trail

Tall thin trees appeared out of nowhere as I was making progress with the hike. The good news was that the swarm of mosquitoes dwindled down by a lot as I reached this place which gave me hope that they will disappear completely in time.

Trail

The ascending part of the hike was rather easy but there were a few parts that was very slippery and a little bit dangerous. It was rather surprising to find that the footpath would take me to a place where I could fall down if I slipped especially since this hiking trail was supposed to be family friendly. Dogs and kids could slip and they could injure themselves.

Ladder

There were ladders as well that made the footpath rather easy to traversed.

Picnic Area

There was a picnic area of some sort in this place but it was empty and not a soul could be seen.

Lookout

To my surprised, the swarm of insects was gone when I reached this place. I couldn’t even find one or any trace of any mosquito around. They just disappeared all of a sudden. However, my guess was that this viewpoint was empty because mosquitoes at the lower elevation can come at this place from time to time.

Trail

Skid marks of vehicles could be seen along the trail which meant that people could just drive all the way up here. Perhaps only ATVs and small vehicles could get up here and no cars or automobiles. Although I was not so sure as well as the skid marks looked like they came from trucks or some type of big vehicle.

Cathedral Rock Fire Tower

The skeletal tower rose at an opening deep within the forest. It rose high above from the ground up, a gigantic structure made out of metal, imposing its height over the surrounding trees and other structures.

Cathedral Rock Fire Tower Views

The tower was very unique that it had windows made of glass or maybe it was clear plastic. It was probably glass as the plastic couldn’t be this clear. They were closed and I didn’t have the courage to open them. I was afraid that if I opened the windows, a powerful wind would break the glass.

Cathedral Rock Fire Tower Lookout

I looked around the fire tower but there wasn’t much to see so I decided to go back down and hike other trails while the sun was still very high.

Going Back

I got back to the ground again and the moment I reached the place filled with these thin and tall trees, the mosquitoes started showing up as well.

Saw Number 3 Again

Thousands of mosquitoes greeted me again on the footpath as I was nearing the parking lot. I decided to run as a mosquito managed to bite my hand. The bite left a big swollen mark that was very itchy and in that moment, I knew that I didn’t want to spend another second in this place.

End Of The Hike

Perhaps this place would be better in the colder months of Fall or Winter but during the Spring or Summer, it was horrible as there were too many bugs swarming around. I ran all the way to my car, closed the door, made sure that no mosquito got into the car and left the place without even looking back.