We hiked to Black Lake via the Lake Creek Trail on a very warm (in the ‘80s), sunny Tuesday in early May. The drive in was straightforward and doable in any vehicle with reasonable clearance. Several trees had fallen over FR 51/5160 recently, but had already been cleared. There were a few potholes, but these were easily avoided. The final dirt road into the trailhead was in great shape, only becoming a little rocky the last 0.3 mile. A large log blocked one side of the circle accessing the trailhead parking area, but access is fine on the other side. The toilet at the trailhead was in pristine shape – it actually smelled good – with lots of paper and hand sanitizer provided. The trailhead was deserted, and we saw nobody else all day.
The Lake trail is long but not difficult. For the most part, the tread is good single track through regenerating forest. For much of the way, the young aspens, alders, birches and lodgepole pines are tall enough to provide at least dappled shade, so the trail isn’t quite as exposed as it used to be. Nevertheless, there are many open rockslides to cross, where you are subject to the full heat from the sun concentrated in this SE facing valley. We got very hot on these stretches on the way in.
The only significant obstacles on the trail were the many fallen trees across it. I counted 20, but may have missed counting some. Some were very large and required scrambling up and over. They would definitely be barriers to stock. This was especially true on the narrow, side-hill along the lakeshore.
Several small streams are running across the trail, but we had no trouble hopping across these. In one place, the trail was a stream, but we were able to clamber along the side above the water. Our dog enjoyed the opportunities to cool her paws and drink the refreshing, cold water.
The upper part of the trail below the lake is quite brushy and we had to push our way through. Dense patches of snow bush were the worst. We could always easily see the trail, but the waist- to shoulder-high bushes have grown across is in many places.
A few flowers and bushes were blooming along the trail. We spied orange paintbrushes, yellow violets, yellow desert parsley, a few blue delphiniums, and white Solomon’s plume. The most intriguing flowers were a few, scattered Lewisia with spectacular clumps of 9-petalled white flowers along the lower part of the trail Among the many bushes lining the trail, the serviceberries and mountain ashes were in bloom.
The prettiest part of the trail by far is the section along the lakeshore. We continued to the end of the lake and then another quarter mile through the brush before turning back. We ate a late lunch at the flat camping spot at the far (NW) end of the lake. This low area is mostly flooded at present, but would be a large, grassy area later in the year. It offered little shade, and we would not recommend it as the best picnic spot. Several nicer spots are in groves of trees above the lakeshore before you get to the end of the lake. In retrospect, we should have stopped there, but we wanted to explore as far as we could before stopping.
We saw moose droppings all along the trail but never saw the source. The trail passes by a series of active beaver ponds, but the beavers were not in view.
All in all, I am glad that I finally did this trail. It has been on my list for years, but I never chose it because it seemed like a long walk for comparatively little reward. That prior assessment turned out to be correct. It is an unremarkable and long hike to a rather ordinary mountain lake. On the plus side, we got to be alone in the Pasayten wilderness all day and that is pretty special.
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