Cascade Mountain

Hiked it on 8/12 and really enjoyed it. It had some strenuous uphill climbs. The trail is a ravine with mud and boulders. We went over to Porter and then finished Cascade. We're 50-ish - in decent shape - and got a great workout. Took us about 5 hours with some chilling on a ledge on Porter and the summit of Cascade.

Cascade is generally considered amongst the easiest of the high peaks, but I think it's important to state that it's still a high peak and there are definitely some areas along the trail, especially near the summit, that will be nerve wracking to people with little experience or those with little kids. Still, the trail is clearly marked and doesn't have any real dangerous spots. As usual, coming back down may be more difficult than going up.

We did this trail with five children, aged 4.5 to 10.5, and five adults, aged 39 to 66. The kids are all active, but the most difficult climb they'd done up to this point would probably be Gorham mountain in Acadia. This was considerably longer, but I'd say it was similarly complicated until the summit approach. Still, they handled it really well with a few stops up, 20 minutes or so at the top, and then a few stops down. All in all it took us just over five hours to complete the trail. The littlest kids were definitely hitting a physical wall with about an hour left, but they trudged through it.

In the end, everyone loved the hike, and the views at the top are absolutely spectacular. If your come prepared with hiking shoes, lots of water and snacks, and test your kids out on something a bit easier first, it's definitely ok for an active family.

Nice trail

Great view. Worth the climb

Beautiful view

Very muddy (hiked on 7/9/17) and very crowded. Top was beautiful but extremely windy

Great hike! Very rocky terrain and muddy. Strenuous/moderate level. Beautiful view at the top makes the 2+hour climb worth it.

Awesome view, moderate/strenuous hike. Tough if you're out of shape, but worth the time. Took about 6.5 hours with 2 kids.