Scurried up from the lakes between thunderstorms. My friend stayed back and observed the sights/sounds of nature, namely a man who removed his pants to wade into the lake for some fly casting, but kept his very large sidearm holstered and at the ready. You never know what lurks under the surface...
technicolorNH - Oct 8, 2021 10:49 pm Date Climbed: Oct 8, 2021
climbed during a very narrow window of opportunity
Made it to within 2.1 miles of the actual TH the afternoon before but pounding rain and thunderstorms made me hold off until dawn the next day. Dawn brought heavy rain so I waited until it passed, then bounced out of my car and scampered up the road, which was mostly obscured by cloud. At the saddle I soon blundered onto use trails and meandered my way up the peak. Two and a half hours to the top, but my way was hardly direct. It was so foggy I rarely saw more than 150 feet in any direction. I declined to climb Independence because the weather was cruddy and sure enough, an hour after I left the summit a thunderstorm came roaring through, complete with rain and graupel. The most adventurous part was descending the now muddy roads in my poor Honda Civic Hybrid. I did some wild driving on the way out.
huskertriguy - Nov 28, 2020 8:02 pm Date Climbed: Oct 31, 2020
B.I.G. with the Cache money millionaires forever
I was nursing an injury but desperately in need of some time outside. Thus I took a quick 2 days to hit the relatively easy Canyon, Owyhee, Cassia, and Box Elder (UT) county high points. This short hike would be my longest this trip as I did not want to overdo it on my healing injury.
I generally agree with Eric Noel about the road; however, I would say pretty much any vehicle can get all the way up to the last two miles. After that you will definitely need high clearance. As is often the case, those last two miles are the roughest. (It would only add 4 miles RT to walk from the start of this road.). I drove up from Burley, and the sun rose just as I turned off the highway. Between City of Rocks and the start of the rough road, I encountered three pickups and one ATV, all hunters.
A few patches lingered from snowfall earlier in October; fresh boot prints indicated someone had been up here in the past week. Otherwise I had not seen anyone for miles before the trailhead.
I departed the trail at the saddle. From here I found following existing use paths to be easy. I saw three — but no more than three — cairns. No bushwhacking or scrambling is necessary. Toward the summit a few trees also have blue ribbons tied to them; I assume for the purpose of guiding folks rather than forest management. After departing the trail, I may have come across some faint boot tracks in the snow, but I cannot be certain. The little plastic container indicated the last visitor prior to me was exactly three weeks prior. So it seems likely the boot tracks left on the trail were from someone who did not head to Cache Peak, unless it was someone like me who rarely signs registers.
The summit views were exceptional.
On my descent, shortly below the summit I came across the path more traveled by, which was even easier to follow. Curiously it was not marked with any cairns. But it did deposit me on the trail just below the saddle, which cut a little distance on the descent.
Round-trip took 3:05, including 20 minutes at the summit. You can probably do it faster as I was hobbled by a bum ankle.
Parked on the east side and made my way up the east ridge from FR708. Found the remnants of some old cabin on the saddle before hitting the burn scar. Ended up being close to 6 miles and 4500 feet of climbing. If you want to make things tough this is the way to go
neotoma - Aug 16, 2020 10:05 pm Date Climbed: Jul 16, 2020
Failed to summit, but had fun
I got a late start, made later by helping someone change a tire that got shredded on FR562, and started by hiking up to Graham Peak on FR707 (I don't think it has a SummitPost page?), then followed the ridge over to Stine's Peak which was a really fun cross-county trek, fantastic views of Castle Rocks and City of Rocks. Shot down the north side of Stine's into a fun bushwhack, met up with FT7014, followed that east until it faded, then bushwhacked north down down down over Almo Creek and up towards Cache Peak. Should have grabbed more water there. Found a very faded FT7012, realized I was licked (both on time and short on water), and followed that NW to FR562 and road-walked FR562 back to my car. 9.5 hour day. So many wildflowers and gorgeous views. Found a spring along FR7012 to get some more water, thankfully. Camped at City of Rocks up at site #63, amazing spot.
My Subaru Outback was fine starting from City of Rocks on FR562 up to FR707, and with care I could probably get within a couple of miles of the end; after that you definitely need high clearance. I plan to go back with a mountain bike to skip repeating that part of the road walk and then hike the trail to the summit.
While walking back on FR562 I had several confrontations with bulls standing their ground and snorting at me, where I had to hike wide around or wait a while for them to move. There are cattle all over the place up there.
Great peak. City of Rocks is awesome. The last 2 miles of NF 562 is high clearance. We also met a range bull who was reluctant to give us the road. Some of the ridge walk to Cache was an annoying mix of boulders and branches.
ericnoel - Jul 28, 2020 5:58 am Date Climbed: Jul 27, 2020
Cache
Standard route. Nice trail, upper route was a bit slow.
Super Dave - Jun 15, 2018 7:02 pm Date Climbed: Jun 9, 2018
Cache'd In
Nice hike from the west side, great views, just a little postholing. Continued to Independence after Cache. Trip Report
While I didn't get a chance to summit, I was all over this mountain for a couple of weeks during the Grape Creek Fire. Perhaps, I will come back to finish off the summit before fire season is over... or the next time I climb at the city.
There was bad weather for weeks in WA so Heather and I drove through OR, CA, NV, UT, and ID. We climbed 37 peaks in 19 days. We did Black Pine Mountains HP, Black Pine Peak and Cache Peak all in the same day. trip report
mtybumpo - Sep 8, 2015 1:09 am Date Climbed: Sep 7, 2015
Beautiful Area!
Much more accessible than I thought. Did Cache and Independence from the West in under 4 hours. Great view!
Brian Kalet - Aug 26, 2015 8:32 pm Date Climbed: Aug 16, 2015
West Slopes
Quick peak
Highpointer1837 - Aug 8, 2015 5:07 pm Date Climbed: Sep 29, 2014
First snow of the season
Hiked up during a snowstorm. Didn't get to enjoy the views, but still a fun hike. City of Rocks was awesome.
scgrant - Aug 11, 2014 11:31 pm Date Climbed: Aug 1, 2014
Cache Peak
Enjoyable hike, approached via the Southwest Route. Went up Mount Independence first and then on to Cache Peak.
TimB - Aug 16, 2012 12:17 pm Date Climbed: Oct 1, 2011
Great hike!
Some very nice views of the City of Rocks and Castle Rock Park. Beautiful fall colors also.
Not a bad day in the hills!
calebEOC - Jun 25, 2012 11:45 am Date Climbed: Jun 23, 2012
Independence Lakes Trail
Up through the lakes basin, great weather minimal snow. Did this one after working a full day, then driving all night down from Tri-Cities.
DarrenKnezek - Jun 21, 2012 1:17 am Date Climbed: Jun 17, 2012
Fun climb after climbing in City of Rocks.
Hiked this summit with Jennifer Knezek, Liz and Tyson Taylor, and Grant Gilbert in a couple of hours also did Independence Peak on the same trip. Fun, fun, fun!
Mlasky - Aug 13, 2011 1:38 pm Date Climbed: Aug 30, 2009
Two-fer Day
Done as a two-fer with Independance via the southwest route. Beautiful day, but a little windy on top. Dog friendly.
larch32 - Jul 4, 2022 1:39 pm Date Climbed: Jul 2, 2022
Cache GrabScurried up from the lakes between thunderstorms. My friend stayed back and observed the sights/sounds of nature, namely a man who removed his pants to wade into the lake for some fly casting, but kept his very large sidearm holstered and at the ready. You never know what lurks under the surface...
technicolorNH - Oct 8, 2021 10:49 pm Date Climbed: Oct 8, 2021
climbed during a very narrow window of opportunityMade it to within 2.1 miles of the actual TH the afternoon before but pounding rain and thunderstorms made me hold off until dawn the next day. Dawn brought heavy rain so I waited until it passed, then bounced out of my car and scampered up the road, which was mostly obscured by cloud. At the saddle I soon blundered onto use trails and meandered my way up the peak. Two and a half hours to the top, but my way was hardly direct. It was so foggy I rarely saw more than 150 feet in any direction. I declined to climb Independence because the weather was cruddy and sure enough, an hour after I left the summit a thunderstorm came roaring through, complete with rain and graupel. The most adventurous part was descending the now muddy roads in my poor Honda Civic Hybrid. I did some wild driving on the way out.
mdetemple - Jul 11, 2021 12:19 pm
cache peakfun route finding from the lakes
huskertriguy - Nov 28, 2020 8:02 pm Date Climbed: Oct 31, 2020
B.I.G. with the Cache money millionaires foreverI was nursing an injury but desperately in need of some time outside. Thus I took a quick 2 days to hit the relatively easy Canyon, Owyhee, Cassia, and Box Elder (UT) county high points. This short hike would be my longest this trip as I did not want to overdo it on my healing injury.
I generally agree with Eric Noel about the road; however, I would say pretty much any vehicle can get all the way up to the last two miles. After that you will definitely need high clearance. As is often the case, those last two miles are the roughest. (It would only add 4 miles RT to walk from the start of this road.). I drove up from Burley, and the sun rose just as I turned off the highway. Between City of Rocks and the start of the rough road, I encountered three pickups and one ATV, all hunters.
A few patches lingered from snowfall earlier in October; fresh boot prints indicated someone had been up here in the past week. Otherwise I had not seen anyone for miles before the trailhead.
I departed the trail at the saddle. From here I found following existing use paths to be easy. I saw three — but no more than three — cairns. No bushwhacking or scrambling is necessary. Toward the summit a few trees also have blue ribbons tied to them; I assume for the purpose of guiding folks rather than forest management. After departing the trail, I may have come across some faint boot tracks in the snow, but I cannot be certain. The little plastic container indicated the last visitor prior to me was exactly three weeks prior. So it seems likely the boot tracks left on the trail were from someone who did not head to Cache Peak, unless it was someone like me who rarely signs registers.
The summit views were exceptional.
On my descent, shortly below the summit I came across the path more traveled by, which was even easier to follow. Curiously it was not marked with any cairns. But it did deposit me on the trail just below the saddle, which cut a little distance on the descent.
Round-trip took 3:05, including 20 minutes at the summit. You can probably do it faster as I was hobbled by a bum ankle.
LazyJSkwires - Sep 15, 2020 6:44 pm Date Climbed: Sep 13, 2020
From the eastParked on the east side and made my way up the east ridge from FR708. Found the remnants of some old cabin on the saddle before hitting the burn scar. Ended up being close to 6 miles and 4500 feet of climbing. If you want to make things tough this is the way to go
neotoma - Aug 16, 2020 10:05 pm Date Climbed: Jul 16, 2020
Failed to summit, but had funI got a late start, made later by helping someone change a tire that got shredded on FR562, and started by hiking up to Graham Peak on FR707 (I don't think it has a SummitPost page?), then followed the ridge over to Stine's Peak which was a really fun cross-county trek, fantastic views of Castle Rocks and City of Rocks. Shot down the north side of Stine's into a fun bushwhack, met up with FT7014, followed that east until it faded, then bushwhacked north down down down over Almo Creek and up towards Cache Peak. Should have grabbed more water there. Found a very faded FT7012, realized I was licked (both on time and short on water), and followed that NW to FR562 and road-walked FR562 back to my car. 9.5 hour day. So many wildflowers and gorgeous views. Found a spring along FR7012 to get some more water, thankfully. Camped at City of Rocks up at site #63, amazing spot.
My Subaru Outback was fine starting from City of Rocks on FR562 up to FR707, and with care I could probably get within a couple of miles of the end; after that you definitely need high clearance. I plan to go back with a mountain bike to skip repeating that part of the road walk and then hike the trail to the summit.
While walking back on FR562 I had several confrontations with bulls standing their ground and snorting at me, where I had to hike wide around or wait a while for them to move. There are cattle all over the place up there.
Dundeel - Jul 29, 2020 1:37 pm Date Climbed: Jul 27, 2020
Cache for CreditGreat peak. City of Rocks is awesome. The last 2 miles of NF 562 is high clearance. We also met a range bull who was reluctant to give us the road. Some of the ridge walk to Cache was an annoying mix of boulders and branches.
ericnoel - Jul 28, 2020 5:58 am Date Climbed: Jul 27, 2020
CacheStandard route. Nice trail, upper route was a bit slow.
Super Dave - Jun 15, 2018 7:02 pm Date Climbed: Jun 9, 2018
Cache'd InNice hike from the west side, great views, just a little postholing. Continued to Independence after Cache. Trip Report
rocknsnow - Apr 16, 2018 3:55 pm Date Climbed: Apr 15, 2018
Route Skied: ne RIDGESuper nice ski - great views! Too bad about fire, wondering when that happened. How did it start?
TheWolfIsLoose - Sep 20, 2016 10:29 pm
Grape Creek FireWhile I didn't get a chance to summit, I was all over this mountain for a couple of weeks during the Grape Creek Fire. Perhaps, I will come back to finish off the summit before fire season is over... or the next time I climb at the city.
gimpilator - Jul 18, 2016 8:03 pm Date Climbed: Jul 6, 2016
37 so farThere was bad weather for weeks in WA so Heather and I drove through OR, CA, NV, UT, and ID. We climbed 37 peaks in 19 days. We did Black Pine Mountains HP, Black Pine Peak and Cache Peak all in the same day. trip report
mtybumpo - Sep 8, 2015 1:09 am Date Climbed: Sep 7, 2015
Beautiful Area!Much more accessible than I thought. Did Cache and Independence from the West in under 4 hours. Great view!
Brian Kalet - Aug 26, 2015 8:32 pm Date Climbed: Aug 16, 2015
West SlopesQuick peak
Highpointer1837 - Aug 8, 2015 5:07 pm Date Climbed: Sep 29, 2014
First snow of the seasonHiked up during a snowstorm. Didn't get to enjoy the views, but still a fun hike. City of Rocks was awesome.
scgrant - Aug 11, 2014 11:31 pm Date Climbed: Aug 1, 2014
Cache PeakEnjoyable hike, approached via the Southwest Route. Went up Mount Independence first and then on to Cache Peak.
TimB - Aug 16, 2012 12:17 pm Date Climbed: Oct 1, 2011
Great hike!Some very nice views of the City of Rocks and Castle Rock Park. Beautiful fall colors also.
Not a bad day in the hills!
calebEOC - Jun 25, 2012 11:45 am Date Climbed: Jun 23, 2012
Independence Lakes TrailUp through the lakes basin, great weather minimal snow. Did this one after working a full day, then driving all night down from Tri-Cities.
DarrenKnezek - Jun 21, 2012 1:17 am Date Climbed: Jun 17, 2012
Fun climb after climbing in City of Rocks.Hiked this summit with Jennifer Knezek, Liz and Tyson Taylor, and Grant Gilbert in a couple of hours also did Independence Peak on the same trip. Fun, fun, fun!
Mlasky - Aug 13, 2011 1:38 pm Date Climbed: Aug 30, 2009
Two-fer DayDone as a two-fer with Independance via the southwest route. Beautiful day, but a little windy on top. Dog friendly.