When I attempted to visit on 7/14/21, trail was closed due to the Cedar Creek Fire.  If intending to visit soon, might be worth giving the ranger office a call or check their website for current status.

We set off from the Gilbert trailhead parking lot about 3 pm to avoid heat of the day. Only one other vehicle. Thanks to the Forest Service for a solid picnic table and clean outhouse. Signage and trail register are in good shape with useful updates.

The trail climbs steadily through significant wildfire damage. In contrast to the hulking burned out Ponderosas, scattered throughout the ground foliage are young trees barely a couple years old starting their growth to a new forest. The trail's in good shape. Brushy in spots, but someone's done a recent job of cutting out areas of thorny bushes. About two miles into the hike are great views of Crescent Mountain.

When we got to the ford over North Creek we couldn't get across. We scouted up and down its ragging torrent, but couldn't find a section to cross with our 90-pound lab. He's a strong swimmer, but the strong flow, frequent short drops and constant sweepers posed too much of a hazard for him and us. I think we could have gotten across upstream about 200 yards on a couple of downed trees, but again they were too narrow and unpredictable for our buddy.

So, we hiked back out. It was a good feeling. This is why we have Wilderness in it's natural, untrammeled state. We got to a point on today's trek where Wilderness said "not today, what's upstream is mine for tonight in all its splendid solitude." 

Visiting North Lake was an easy choice for us as it’s trailhead is just a few miles from yesterday’s hike, Scatter Lake. The distance is roughly the same but the elevation gain less so we thought it would be an easy day:)

The 2018 Gilbert Fire ravaged this trail just as it has many in this area. The first half of the trail if a familiar story of a forest burnt over, regenerating itself. Desolation intermixed with a new beauty.

North Lake sits nestled under Gilbert Mountains imposing north face. There are several good campsites and the fishing was fabulous.

Half of our journey was to locate the location of the former North Creek Fire lookout. An L-5 was at 6580’ just off of Abernathy Pass (a side trail signed Cedar Creek will take you to this desolate, infrequently used Pass). I scrambled around and visited two summits with elevations in the 6580’ ballpark but didn’t find any signs of a lookout.

Lookout or not the views of Silverstar and the Washington Pass area were stupendous. This last stretch of trail is no longer maintained. We managed to clear twenty or so trees but many were too big for our saw.

The Abernathy Pass - North Lake circuit is a long day hike (13.5 miles round trip with 3,600 feet of elevation gain), but full of rewards that make it all worth it.  The first 2.5 miles from the trailhead is well graded (10%) and goes through burned forest, but is in good shape.  At around mile 4 you reach the junction with the Abernathy Pass trail, which takes you up a steeper grade (20%) for another mile to the 6,400 foot pass and excellent views of Gilbert, Silver Star, Gardner, and the Cedar Creek drainage to the north.  There are about a dozen trees down on this currently unmaintained trail, but they can all be navigated with a little work; log removal would help this trail greatly as it is otherwise in good condition.  We then headed back down the trail and up to North Lake for a refreshing dip before walking out.  Berries are particularly ripe around 5,500 feet, and the wildflowers by the lake are still going strong.  This hike is a gem!

Overview:

Overnight, 8/7-8/8

Distance: 12 miles, roundtrip

Gain: 2300'

Road Conditions:

Road in was in very good condition. A lot of washboarding, but virtually zero potholes. I think a 2WD car could make this without issue unless it has rained heavily recently. Parking lot was nearly full when we arrived around 1 pm on Friday. 8 cars were in lot.

COVID Info:

We were trying to decided between this lake and Louis Lake to overnight at. Both were selected due to low use in order to avoid people. We knew this lake would be higher use than Louis Lake, but also this lake would provide a more beautiful camping experience. We were worried when we arrived and saw 8 cars in the lot, but also knew this TH was for at least two other hikes (Abernathy Pass & Twisp Pass). Louis Lake TH had one car in the lot. We decided to go with this hike since we figured some parties would have picked a different hike and some may just be day hikers. The trail register had 3 groups for the day and only one was headed up in the North Lake direction. We only saw one party on our way up. We had the lake to ourselves Friday night. Saw a couple horseback riding groups (about 9 people) plus about 6 other groups of hikers (12 people) on our way down on Saturday. We got a late start on Saturday and returned to the TH around 3:30 pm. If we had arrived at the TH 1 hour sooner, we would have only seen 2 hiking groups. Overall, this is a great hike to do if you are trying to avoid people.

Hike:

The first couple miles of the trail is in the Crescent Mountain Fire 2018 burn area. This makes for a toasty hike up the switchbacks and up the drainage. This section is somewhat overgrown. Check for ticks later! In the drainage you get some good wind that keeps you cool. The area is beautiful, and looking down the drainage at Reynolds Peak is impressive. Abernathy Peak looms across the drainage. This area is a mix of talus/scree fields, meadows, and burn scars. You have to cross a number of scree fields which have alright footing. The majority of the trail, especially the lower burn sections, is very dusty come this time of the year. The Soil Burn Severity in a few of these areas (where the trees are blackened to the top) looks in the 'High' category, where the mineral soil is burned. This dusts and erodes away, leaving only rocks left, leading to worse footing in these areas.

Around 1.5-2 miles in, you reach your first stream crossing. The crossing is trivial, but this is significant because it is your first access to water. I forgot to bring car water with me on this trip, so was down to 200 ml at this point, so this surprise stream, just over a ridge, was very welcome.

The hike after around 2.5 miles begins to green up as the fire did not burn this high, or the burns become spotty. The increase in shade here is welcome. We saw many ripe and ripening blueberries in this section. About 0.5 miles after the 6 ft boulder mentioned in the Trip Info section, you come into a groove where you encounter a couple informal campsites. Hiking higher, you eventually cross North Creek. There are two unsigned crossings. I assume one is the hiker ford and one is the horse ford, not sure which. We took the one on climber's right and had no issues keeping our feet dry (pictured). Trekking poles help here. Immediately after this we saw a couple more campsites. The next 1.5 miles or so are through forest with brief glimpses of looming Gilbert Mountain to your left through the trees. This trail is extremely well graded here. You will encounter the turnoff to Abernathy Pass here. At this turnoff is the old engulfed sign mentioned in the trail on hikers left. Very cool! Hiking on, the trail begins a steady climb after about a 0.5 mile very flat section. This climb comes to an unnamed and unmarked (on topo maps) small lake in a meadow (pictured). Before this the trail splits with the left fork going through the meadow (one blowdown here) and the right continuing through the forest. These paths reunite at the small lake. On the meadow path there are a few campsites. Bugs are bad here due to the standing water nature of the small lake. The lake is beautiful and clear turquoise from glacier flour. After this small lake you cross a small stream and climb up to North Lake. The lake is beautiful with meadows on the NW side. Wildflowers are still in bloom, but are nearing the end of their life. Here there are probably about 5 campsites, some hidden away, some next to the path. At the end of the lake is a prominent moraine which splits a smaller lake from North Lake. We camped at the end of the path by this lake near a small waterfall and creek. Trees are mostly sub-alpine sized in this meadow, so doing a proper bear hang is very difficult/impossible. I recommend carrying a bear canister or Ursack for camping at this lake.

As we arrived in camp, the clouds rolled in, blocking the sun, and the wind picked up. The wind swept mainly to the NE, via the Gilbert Mountain-Ramble Peak col. This make temperatures quite chilly (in addition to being at 5800'). We ate and were tired to crawled into the tent around 9 pm. Literally minutes after, light rain started. Mosquitoes were annoying right up until we retired, and were biting as soon as we were up at 7:30 am. The only thing that kept them at bay was the wind.

The morning was overcast with teasing sun-breaks. We considered staying another night to lay out and soak in the lake all day, but decided that the temps would probably not be high enough to enjoy the lake, so after giving it until 10 am to start clearing (which it didn't) we packed up camp and hiked out, getting a late start. The sun came out as we were leaving the meadow and the hike down was warm and sunny. Can't say we made a poor decision as we got a day back from what we planned and the number of people/horse we saw climbing up on the way down. I would estimate 3 parties camped at the lake Saturday night.

Overall, having a night all by ourselves at a lake this beautiful during peak backpacking season during the COVID-hiking-rush-hour all the trails have been experiencing was AWESOME. I highly recommend this hidden-gem of a lake. The sheer amount of varied environment and vegetation experienced on this hike around Gilbert Mountain was very cool! We saw countless butterflies of many types, a silver Hoary Marmot, and fish jumping in both North Lake and it's moraine separated neighbor. In a burn section we saw a Western Tanager! We heard Ravens, as saw a couple of what are either White-breasted Nuthatch or Black-troated Grey Warblers. On the dive down FR-4440, we saw two young bucks. On the drive back home we saw a heard of elk from HWY 20.