This hike is one of my favorite ones in Mueller. When we do it again, we are going to hike it at dawn to give us a better chance to see wildlife. As always, we took a picture of the trail numbers at the trailhead, which by the way, is the same trailhead you use for the Grouse Mountain hike. If you look at the map, you will notice you can take a shorter loop if you wish. You would miss the pond, but I think you can still see the cabin. I would take the trail counterclockwise. The hike that way has a more gradual hike up.
The first section of the trail walks right by an aspen forest on one side, with beautiful views of valleys, meadows and mountains on the left side.
Interpretive Displays
One wonderful part about this hike are all of the interpretive displays every so often. They give you a chance to catch your breath if you need it and learn a few things about the flora and fauna of the area.
Cahill Pond
If you choose to take the entire loop, Cahill Pond is a nice spot to stop and rest at the bench to enjoy a snack.
Cahill Cabin
The next section is the steepest section of the trail in this direction; however, with all of the signs I never had to stop to take any additional rest breaks. Then suddenly, you see a large cabin falling in itself. I am surprised that with all of the signs on the trail, they had nothing about this cabin.
Brothers John and Lester Cahill ran a cattle ranch here, as well as a profitable bootlegging operation during the 20’s and 30’s. Apparently there are still some remnants of the stills somewhere on the land as well. They also stole horses, including some horses from the Osborne family. Sumner Osborne went off to confront them and was never seen again. I noticed a grave marker for him that has been moved to the visitor center. Though they were eventually jailed for stealing horses and cattle, they were never implicated in Sumner’s disappearance.
Last Thoughts
I discovered later that they had a Ranger Hike on this loop scheduled the day after we did it ourselves. Despite multiple trips to the visitor center, they didn’t post any hikes on the dry erase board other than a couple on the first day. I did see a schedule later at the comfort station. So check the website and make sure you ask at the visitor center about any Ranger led hikes.
I highly recommend this hike as this one was a close second to the Raven Ridge hike, but the two are so different that I recommend both of them.