Cumulus Mountain

Cumulus is located on the south ridge of Ram Valley and access is gained from the Prudhoe Bay neighborhood. Once in the valley, start looking at the NE slopes of the south ridgeline that terminates with Cumulus. You'll see a singletrack trail going up the slope, which is where you should turn off the valley trail toward the south ridge. There is a small stream crossing that is shallow and fast moving in sections, but there were ample stepping stones to cross without getting wet. It may be possible that on a hot, sunny day that this stream becomes too high to cross using the stepping stones.Once you gain the south ridge of the valley, it is a fairly pleasant uphill hike with views of Rumble, Raina, and Eagle Peaks, Flute and Organ Glaciers, and Eagle River. I recall one section of minor scrambling, but it is very short and not exposed. There is also a very prominent false peak where we had to pull out a map to verify that it was not the actual peak. I have uploaded a picture of the actual peak from this false peak. From the false peak, we followed game trails along the scree until we reached the summit.It is about 10 miles and 5200' of gain round trip. We are above average hikers, in terms of speed, and it took us 8 hours. Again, there are multiple false peaks along the way, so keep going until you reach an apparent final peak on the ridge.