I thought Lake Victoria might be a reasonable larch destination without crowds and yes! However, this isn't a trail for everyone so keep in mind
1. Private road- after parking before the bridge we walked up a private road. There is a small sign (facing away as you enter) near the gate asking hikers to pick up their trash, and there is a sign for the Lake Victoria bootpath at the start of the route.
2. Challenging trail. After a short connection, and a bit of old roadbed, the trail makes a beeline directly and steeply up the hill. It is steep dirt. We had snow starting around 4000 elevation. It is brushy as well so we got wet. In the old burn, there are a number of blowdown to climb over. With the snow this made navigation a bit tricky, and CalTopo shows the trail as a bit different than it appears on the ground. Unlike other TRs here, we didn't think it was that hard, however, we have a lot of experience with off trail navigation.
3. Boulder fields. With light snow cover these are tricky, melted out they could still be tricky because there isn't a trail through these areas, just cairns to mark what (someone feels) may be the best route. We did a few scrambly moves that I don't think are optional, but also not exposed or particularly difficult.
4. Limited camping options- we saw a campsite, but the rest of the area is very steep or covered in boulders.
Truly spectacular lake! It's a beautiful bright teal with a mix of green conifers and bright gold larches, which are starting to shed their needles.
We got about 8 miles, 3700 vertical round-trip to the lake.
If you choose to visit please be very sensitive to the landowners! One junction is marked with cairns as on the way out it is *uphill* while their driveway is downhill- make sure you don't encroach on their property and of course as always pick up any trash and park respectfully.
Comments
ricola on Lake Victoria
"I thought Lake Victoria might be a reasonable larch destination without crowds and yes!"
So it "was" a place without crowds until someone blabbed about it on the internet after enjoying it for themselves. How selfish.
Posted by:
ricola on Oct 14, 2025 04:42 PM
badassidy on Lake Victoria
This comment is so rude and unnecessary, while there might not be crowds it is FAR from being secret. The other much better known trails in the Enchantments don’t see anything close to the crowds that Colchuck does, including Stuart that shares a trailhead with Colchuck, this one will be no different.
Posted by:
badassidy on Oct 14, 2025 06:21 PM
Suhleenah on Lake Victoria
You were interested enough to read this trip report. I think that says something. Carry on reading TRs without giving back by writing your own.
Posted by:
Suhleenah on Oct 15, 2025 06:55 AM
Pika Seeker on Lake Victoria
Did you see the cat, or just its tracks 😳
Posted by:
Pika Seeker on Oct 14, 2025 05:09 PM
badassidy on Lake Victoria
Thank you so much for posting, I have been wondering what the access was like with the private property issue but haven’t been able to find a clear answer. This helps immensely!
Posted by:
badassidy on Oct 14, 2025 06:18 PM
Suhleenah on Lake Victoria
Yes there are quite a few lovely hikes on public land with private road access. It would be nice to have clearer guidance but here we are.
Posted by:
Suhleenah on Oct 15, 2025 06:57 AM
Maddy on Lake Victoria
Thanks for the very helpful info. Ignore the troll.
Posted by:
Maddy on Oct 14, 2025 08:07 PM
ALW Hiker on Lake Victoria
Thank you for posting this helpful report, especially the information about the start of the trail. It's great the landowners are aware of the trail and encouraging people to use it respectfully, as you have done.
I don't agree with ricola. There is no way this hike is going to become crowded. The trails that become popular "overnight" are those with a high reward-to-effort ratio (e.g. Olalla Canyon). That high ratio is just not there for this one, given the difficulty of the route and the unfriendliness of the terrain at the lake.
Posted by:
ALW Hiker on Oct 20, 2025 04:43 PM