6. Cheat Creek

The Cheat Creek Trail parallels Cheat Creek on the way to a trail junction on the ridgeline between Triangulation Peak and the Sentinel Hills. Old-growth conifers used to border the trail up to Wild Cheat Meadows where Alaska yellow cedar encircled the meadow. However, the Whitewater Fire (2018), and then the Lionshead Fire (2020), burned through this watershed at high severity leaving a harsh and rocky landscape behind. The trail was reopened at the end of 2024, but most of the forest near the trail severely burned and falling trees and branches rapidly accumulate over the trail. A few old-tree survivors remain along a short stretch of trail about a mile and a half from the trailhead, but most trees died around the meadow complex.