This report is for a 5-day, 40-mile east-west solo traverse of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, starting at Salmon La Sac trailhead and ending at Snow Lake trailhead/Alpental. I’ll focus on the status of a couple rarely used trails and my campsite experiences at each stop. One of my favorite parts of this hike was meeting other folks doing their own versions of traverses and loops across and around the Alpine Lakes Wilderness - it opened my eyes to all the different possibilities depending on time, abilities and shuttle options. I know I’ll be back yet again!

Day #1: Salmon La Sac to Waptus Lake: Trail is in great shape, easy grade with nice spots to rest and dip into the river on a hot day. There are a couple great riverside campsites along the trail as well. Waptus River ford near lake is max 2 feet deep and much nicer with water shoes on - there’s no way to cross without getting your feet and lower legs wet. At Waptus Lake there are a lot of campsites at the east end of the lake, with a toilet nearby, but these get more crowded. Walking further along the trail going around the north side of the lake, you’ll spot a few more sites with limited access to the lake and another toilet. Near the west end there’s a bluff with a few great sites and an island you can rock-hop to with space for one tent, with the most awesome views up and down the lake and great water access. I heard a bear at dusk and dawn along the bluff above the island, crashing around and grunting. It was a little unnerving and made it challenging to hang food the proper distance from my tent without putting it in the path of the bear. I also opted to pack out my human waste instead of going up the bluff to dig a proper hole away from the water. The nearest toilet to these campsites is back east along the lake about a half mile unfortunately.

Day #2: Waptus Lake to Williams Lake via Dutch Miller Gap: This trail is also in great shape! It’s a steep, mostly shaded (at least in the morning) climb to Lake Ivanhoe with nonstop views toward Waptus and surrounding peaks. Once near Lake Ivanhoe the trail becomes tricky to follow - use boards laid over the creek to cross to the south side of Ivanhoe and take care as the trail gets narrow and steep. There’s a nice camping spot along the trail a bit east of the lake near the creek if you can’t find any camping at the lake proper, which is likely to happen as the entire area around Lake Ivanhoe is fragile and steep, with what seems to be very little campsites except on one small peninsula. The trail continues to be view-packed, well-maintained, and deserted up and over Dutch Miller Gap and to Williams Lake, a gorgeous quiet little lake surrounded by high peaks. Camping there is on the west side - you have to cross the lake outlet on a sometimes slippery log, water shoes recommended. There was one other person there this Tuesday night, it likely gets a bit more crowded on long weekends since it takes a couple days to get there from any direction. I talked to two people who descended from Chain Lakes to Williams Lake. One who did the traverse from Necklace Valley and said the trail up the waterfall is very steep but doable and “I wouldn’t want to go back down that way it would be treacherous.” She also said it took her several hours to descend from Chain Lakes to Williams Lake with false starts down unestablished trails that led to cliffs and crossing a boggy mess on the north side of the lake. Another person did a day hike from Williams up to La Bohn Pass and also said it was “really really hard.” Hopefully he posted a trip report about it!

Day #3: Williams Lake to Goldmyer Hot Springs: Continued west on the Dutch Miller trail, pretty much all a steady downhill that gets more and more overgrown past Pedro Camp, with four blow downs that need to be navigated, a couple of them huge trees. Past Hardscrabble Camp I decided to brave the rarely used Middle Fork trail rather than the road - trail is bushy in places but very navigable, all the boardwalks and bridges are in great shape. Stopped at Goldmyer (made a reservation a couple weeks earlier) for a heavenly night of soaking my tired muscles in the incredible hot springs, luxuriating in well-maintained outhouses, and sleeping in a huge campsite with an easy food-hanging system.

Day #4: Goldmyer to Gem Lake: After a sunrise soak, I easily forded Burntboot Creek and continued on the Middle Fork trail - again a little bushy but mostly just very quiet old growth forest - until I reached the Rock Creek Trail for my ascent to Snow Lake. The first third was an easy grade through mossy forest, while the rest alternated between overgrown, talus fields, and steep climbing, sometimes all at once which required slow careful footing. Overall, though, Rock Creek Trail exceeded my low expectations. It was almost entirely in the shade all morning which no doubt made it much more bearable. The only folks I passed were a group of PCT hikers doing the “old PCT” from Alpental to Waptus Lake. When I finally reached the sign at Snow Lake that points down to “Rock Creek Trail and Middle Fork Road,” it was an amazing feeling to be able to see the valley I had just traversed all the way up to Dutch Miller Gap, and the peaks that had accompanied my journey. Up to this point on my hike I had passed about a dozen folks in three days, but these last two days I passed easily 200 folks. I had intended to go all the way to Wildcat Lakes, however the trail to Gem Lake on this hot afternoon was exposed, steep, and rocky, with a couple talus fields to cross, all requiring constant careful footing. Having ascended about 3000 feet in 5 miles, I felt done by the time I got to Gem Lake. The Lake is a surreal deep blue, with sweeping views of Snow Lake and its surrounding peaks, but it suffers from overuse, with sensitive areas impacted by camping. For minimal impact while camping and quiet space away from daytime visitors, I recommend turning right when you reach the lake, where you’ll soon find the toilet (which is up a steep hill) and continue on the lake trail to find a sign pointing up to campsites up a steep trail. There were about 5 groups camping here on a Thursday night, and on my hike out the next day I passed many folks heading up with backpacks on - I’m guessing it feels very overcrowded at Gem Lake on nice weekends.

Day #5: Early  morning I tried to ascend Wright Mountain. Finding the trail was tricky, just go up toward and through campsites to a crest where there’s a view northeast, and then you can see the trail going up the mountain. It’s steep, rocky, sometimes hard to follow, and through a couple talus fields. Near the top where it gets to be more like bouldering I opted to stop. It’s a sweeping view northeast, but I couldn’t find a spot with a good view of Wildcat Lakes Basin - maybe at the top though? My hike out to the trailhead late morning was exposed, hot, and more crowded the further down I got. No doubt Snow Lake is gorgeous - crystal clear and surrounded by jagged peaks, and I did manage to find a quiet spot to take a dip before finishing the last few miles of my journey. However I plan to avoid Snow and Gem Lakes in the future and instead go to the many other less crowded Alpine lakes in this incredibly beautiful slice of the world.

These trails and the chiwawa river road are now closed due to the Pomas Fire.

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FOUND:  Honda key fob ~5 miles up the trail. Happy to get it to the owner.

ITINERARY

Did an overnight on the Rock Creek trail 8/7-8/8. I camped at the meadow about 7.5 miles in to the trail. 

I also spent the morning after checking out the trail further up north to see how far I could get. In just a couple of miles, you end up in this pretty sweet open area with cool views of Old Gib and wildflowers. It isn't a very hard hike to this part from the campsite, save for one short section of unavoidable large blowdowns.

Once in the meadow, I lost the trail many times, and it got harder to follow as I kept going, although typically I'd lose it, find it again, and then it'd be really easy to follow for a short bit before I lost it again. I was able to make it about 9.4 miles into the trail before I lost it completely. 

THE ROAD

The road is PRISTINE for a forest road. It's paved until 3.5 miles from the trailhead and is a nice gravel road with very few, relatively shallow potholes from there. I have a higher-clearance vehicle, but I would have felt fine with a lower-clearance one. The road does get narrow in places, but there are places to pull off to allow someone to pass if need be. 

Parking lot for the trailhead is very small. You might be able to fit 4 cars there. 

No parking pass is needed (as stated on the bulletin board at the trailhead), but there's a trail register. 

THE TRAIL

There are quite a few blowdowns you'll need to navigate over/under, although a majority of the trail is pretty clear. 

There are also times at which the trail is overgrown to the point of being difficult to find. I followed what "looked like trail" whenever that happens and it seemed to work out fine for me. That said, the blowdowns and losing track of the trail definitely slowed me down.  

Some of the parts where I lost the trail were overgrown with plants that really scratched me up, usually when the trail opened up. One particular bad patch is around 4 miles in where the trail opens up. There's a bunch of stinging plants (stinging nettle maybe?) in there that left me with some stinging on my legs where my pants ended that subsisted through the night.

Due to the amount of overgrowth along the trail, I got absolutely soaked because of the rainfall a few days ago and dew. Admittedly, it made my hike a little more miserable. 

Also, there's one small landslide on the trail near the start, but it's not a big deal, especially compared to some of the other issues I came across on the trail.

WATER

There are two spots that are almost certainly flowing no matter what time in the season it is: You cross Rock Creek twice, once at around 6.5 miles and once again right before the campsite around 7.5 miles. Those crossings might be fords when the water is high. None of the water crossings on my hike were really more than rock hops except the first Rock Creek crossing, but a strategically placed log made it fine.  

Water sources are abundant! I didn't know the water source statuses before heading out so I carried a bunch of water — it was SUPER unnecessary. During my hike, I came across water multiple times just about every mile, except past the second Rock Creek crossing, when it got to be pretty dry, especially upon hitting the open space mentioned above. 

CAMPSITES

The campsite I stayed at 7.5 miles in was in a meadow just a few hundred feet maybe past the second Rock Creek crossing. It has enough space for a few tents, and is a very nice flat campsite. The closest water is the aforementioned Rock Creek crossing. 

There was another camp I saw just a little ways past the wilderness boundary that could fit a couple tents and is right next to a small creek. 

BUGS 

Yes. Many. Maybe somewhere between "annoyance" and "terrible." Bring bug spray, a bug net, and perhaps some long pants (the long pants will be useful for the overgrown sections anyway). 

VIEWS

You get some nice views of Estes Butte and Old Gib to the west along the trail sometimes when the trail opens up. One particularly nice viewpoint is around 5.6 miles in, where the trees disappear and you can look down into the Rock Creek valley and see Estes Butte/Old Gib right in front of you. 

You get even better views of Old Gib in the field at the end of the trail. 

FINAL THOUGHTS 

Overall, it was a good length for an overnight, although the trail is in rough shape in a few places. That said, the campsite was very nice and I didn't see a single person from the time I got onto the forest road to the trailhead until I got back to my car (where someone was parked and about to head on trail). If solitude is your goal, this might just be the trail for you. 

My Labor Day hike was on Rock Creek trail to go meet a BCRT crew. I hiked in 5.5 miles. The first 3 miles is a steady climb, gaining about 1000 feet. The next 2.5 miles were relatively flat. I turned around once I met the crew.

This trail needs some TLC. The BCRT crew (and USFS) has been cutting out all the fallen trees but there is a lot more to go before the end of the trail (11 miles) that hooks up to the Carne High Traverse. The tread is seriously slipping in places. And portions are completely overgrown with vegetation. Without recent work, this could have become a lost trail.