Snow Lake was popular this Labor Day weekend, as expected, I almost couldn't find a parking spot, arriving at 11am. The trail was packed. Most people gather at the near end, though, and I was surprised to find a quiet beach for myself, where I just refilled water. Fewer people at Gem Lake, and even fewer on the trail to Upper Wildcat. The trail to Upper Wildcat was relatively clear and easy to find. The whole way from Snow Lake to Upper Wildcat is full with blueberries - I had to be careful not to overeat them.

The lake is beautiful, and it was totally worth it! Swam to the island, the water was pretty cold though. The temperature was 64-66F, according to the watch.

The climb back up to Gem Lake is tiring. Took another short dip at Snow Lake to cool down again, and Snow Lake felt much warmer (72F, if the watch had enough time to cool down).

The hike back to the car down from Snow Lake is endless and boring. Arrived back at the car in the dark.

The route is straight forward, but you can see it and more photos when you follow the Strava link.

Young black bear sighted at Upper Wildcat Lake. Was entirely unphased by me and my dog and it kept a reasonable distance from me while I fished (dog has seen plenty of black bears, is also unphased).

Trail from Gem down to the valley before heading up to Wildcat Lakes is in great shape. A couple sections overgrown after that but not bad.

No mosquitoes/flies at Snow or Gem Lake. Just a few mosquitoes at Wildcat Lakes.

Seventeen mile forest service patrol to Upper Wildcat Lake for the usual duties. Cleaned out campfire rings (no fires allowed), picked up trash and TP (please bury it very deep), and moved some logs off the trail. Lakes are beautiful, please remember to recreate responsibly and truly leave no trace. Road in to parking lot is great, about 40 cars (1/4 full) at 7:30 am on a Friday.

Snow Lake: Incredibly busy per usual, saw 200 people on the trail and we were past the lake for most of the day. Pretty easy trail up, just a bit of a climb, never too steep, and then down into the lake. There are some rocky parts, but no other obstacles across the trail. A little bit of noise from helicopters working out of alpental until going over the ridge at 4400 feet.

Gem Lake: Another kick up gets you to a gem of the alpine lakes wilderness, incredible colors and lovely temperature. Pushed off a couple logs on the trail up to Gem, should be a little better now. More talus here, I definitely appreciated wearing thicker boots. Gets up to nearly 5000 feet as you come over the ridge into Gem Lake. Found two fire rings (bad) and way too much TP in bushes. Here is definitely where the bugs are the worst, swarmed pretty quickly once you stop moving.

Lower Wildcat Lake: After Gem, drop down a thousand feet to Lower Wildcat, which we stepped straight past as it does not compare to the other lakes here. The trail down had some logs on it and lots of rocky sections. Shortly before the lake, there is some brush, but not enough to hinder. Felt pretty comfortable in shorts, and benefitted from blueberries right next to the trail! Absolutely delicious.

Upper Wildcat Lake: From lower wildcat, go back up 300 feet in short order. If you're looking for solitude, this is where to go. Saw two other people here while eating lunch, and they left shortly. The lake to ourself was great, except for the fire ring by the shore we destroyed. Little bit chilly temperatures, but definitely warmer than some of the other lakes I've been in recently (like thunder mountain lake). Super refreshing when you know you still have 8 miles to hike. Highly recommend the trek out here, barely had any bugs while eating lunch, just a couple of flies. 

Did some deadfall removal/cleaning on the way back, and saw five sixths of our total hiker count while returning. Lots of pikas, birds, and butterflies outside today. Bigger animals avoid the populated areas but I did see a shrew! Garmin logged 17 miles and 5500 feet of elevation gain.

Day 1: Hike to Gem Lake

Started at 8 am on a Thursday and had no trouble finding parking at the Alpental lot. We started in dense fog and passed a few day hikers to Snow Lake on the way up. The trail to snow lake has been widened since I was last there six years ago. Past snow lake, the trail is well marked, pay attention to sections that have rocks across them or downed branches so that you stay on the main trail. We arrived at Gem lake before noon and no one was camping yet. We explored all of the possible spots.

Camping beta: there are spots to your left immediately upon approaching the lake. There were still snow patches, puddles, and bog-like spots on a few tent spots that should be dried out in a few weeks. If you keep going past the toilet sign, there are even more sites up to the right. There were three that we saw that looked viable and a few others still under snow, but it’s melting fast. There are easy water/lake access points near both camping areas. The campsites filled up quickly that afternoon with only two spots for small tents remaining at sunset.

Since we arrived at camp so early we took a short jaunt up past the further campsites to the top of Wright Mountain. This required some route finding and light scrambling but offered some lovely views!

It was pretty hard to avoid bugs anywhere around Gem Lake with all the melting out and standing puddles at the moment. It was tolerable but would recommend a bug net and spray for your own comfort.

Day 2: Day Hike to Lower & Upper Wildcat Lakes

Once you hike around Gem, you descend immediately over many switchbacks. There’s a short stream crossing to a talus field that was easy to navigate using the existing cairns. The next part of the trail is the most overgrown, but you’re still able to follow a trail without issue. There is a single blow down you have to climb over while the others have become part of the trail. Lower Wildcat is nice, some members of our group went around and scouted some of the campsites there (I think there were two). There are two stream crossings with muddy/slippery rocks that all members of our party used trekking poles to navigate with dry feet. After that we started a steep but short climb up to Upper Wildcat Lake. We met a trail runner that said they had seen a bear, but we did not. The lake is magical and lovely and was mostly bug free. We spent the afternoon here with the lake to ourselves, swimming, lounging, and fishing. There seemed to be about three campsites here that we found. If we were to come back, we’d probably head straight to Upper Wildcat Lake for the solitude and fewer bugs.

We hiked back to Gem for dinner and had a spectacular sunset with only one other camper. Gem Lake has some epic craggy Mountain views all around and is maybe more strikingly beautiful than the other lakes noted here. A few campers rolled in late, around 10 pm that night.

Day 3: Hike out from Gem Lake

We took our time and had a relaxed breakfast before heading out around 9. The day hikers were already hitting the lake in full force and hiking out was pretty slow going. As we neared Snow Lake we encountered a handful of Bluetooth speakers, lots of off trail meanderers, and people that weren’t aware they needed to yield to hikers coming uphill. There were MANY backpackers heading up on Saturday… too many for the available spots we saw at Gem Lake at this time. I would recommend leaving early if you want to secure a spot on a Saturday evening.

TL;DR: Trail has no major obstacles. Gem Lake has quite a few campsites that will all be lovely and dry within the next 1-2 weeks. Upper Wildcat offers more solitude but Gem Lake has the views. Bugs weren’t terrible but they were incessant.

Arrived around 9:45am on a sunny Tuesday. Maybe 15 cars in the lot, and a similar number when I returned around 5pm.

Did a real doozy of a hike, going to Snow Lake then Gem Lake then Lower Wildcat and Upper Wildcat. Then retracing my route but doing a detour up Wright Mountain near Gem Lake. My watch clocked it all as 16.08 mi, 5135 ft of elevation, and 6hr15min moving time.

There was about 0.5 to 1.5 in of snow on the ground at higher elevations in the morning, but much of it melted by the end of the day. It did slow me down because it made the rocky portions (of which there are many) a bit treacherous - just enough snow to obscure the trail and make things slippery. I never ended up needing my spikes because the snow never got deep or hard enough, which was good because I completely forgot to pack them. When the trail wasn't covered in snow it was usually pretty damp and often times the trail was actually a small stream. Some puddles and patches of mud here and there, but nothing out of the ordinary for hiking in late October.

Much has been written about Snow and Gem lakes so I'll skip that bit. From Gem down to Lower Wildcat is a big descent of about 1000 ft, but the trail is mostly a nice surface and not too hard or steep and you get good views of the towering rocks around you. Once you get down into the basin it does get a bit more rugged: overgrown and brushy and muddy and some logs and puddles and stream crossings to navigate through/around. My legs got completely soaked by the brush during this portion.

Lower Wildcat itself was a bit underwhelming after Snow and Gem. I definitely recommend going on to Upper Wildcat as it's much prettier. The trail from Lower to Upper Wildcat is short but has some steep bits and requires paying a little more attention to stay on the trail. It's actually a lot less overgrown and muddy than the trail from Gem to Lower Wildcat, but it does start off with a stream crossing that I don't think can be done without testing the waterproofing of your hiking boots.

Once I got to Upper Wildcat I took the "trail" to the right to explore a bit. It was quite hard to follow at times but seemed to end once it got to the big rock field that goes down to the water. I turned back and found a good spot by the water for lunch that only required a little bushwhacking. I think it was worthwhile heading over this way because the views of the lake are much better from this angle compared to where the trail initially drops you at the lake.

The return trip was uneventful, and a bit faster now that more snow had melted. I detoured up Wright Mountain because it was a sunny and clear day and I suspected the views would be marvelous. It was a hard trail to find and follow and I really had to rely on my phone's gps app (gaia) to locate the turnoff from the main trail as it looked like just a small stream. This trail hadn't seen much sun either and there was still snow cover on almost all of it, which was actually helpful at times because a couple of people had been up there earlier today and I could follow their tracks to help locate the trail. Scrambling up the rocks in the snow was not great, but I made it without feeling like I took any risks. The views at the top were spectacular! You also get good views at several points on the way up so it's worth a shot even if you don't make it all the way to the top. Getting back down was quite a bit slower as I was being careful and stayed low and slow and literally just retraced my steps because I could follow them in the snow.

I saw probably 30ish people all day, although only 5 past Snow Lake and 0 past Gem Lake. I think I counted 7 dogs, 4 of which were off leash and one of which ran and jumped on me.