Great little backpacking trip!
We decided to do a little backpacking trip to Bear/Deer lake this last weekend.
We left Shoreline around 8:30 A.M. and arrived at the trail head a little after 10:00. The road leading to the TH is fine, some major pot holes here and there but any car should be able to do it just take your time.
The first climb should be labeled stair master because you climb up so many stairs. It's just 1.3 miles to Lake Dorothy but you climb over 900 feet to get there. Once you're at Lake Dorothy you have several options due to the lake being over 3 miles long.
The route to Bear Lake gives you the most opportunity to find either a campsite at Lake Dorothy or at least a neat spot to have lunch/snack.
Since our destination was Bear/Deer lake we kept on trucking along.
You climb along this ridge that follows Lake Dorothy all the way to the end. At the end of the lake 3.5 miles in you will need to cross a stream/creek. It's knee/mid thigh deep in the deepest parts of the crossing, I'm 5'11. If you have sandals or willing to take your boots off it's very easy to cross, not difficult at all. Very cold though! There are plenty of boulders for you to step on to cross without getting too wet.
After you cross the stream you'll start the second leg of climbing. From here to the highest point 3,820 ish feet, you'll climb another 800 feet of so. This part has 8 or so switchbacks. It's pretty steep but the views of Lake Dorothy both going up and coming down were fantastic.
After you've reached the "summit" you'll gradually climb down 175 feet or so to meet Bear Lake.
We camped out between Bear and Deer lake. There isn't a trail on the maps but right in between the two you can see a trail that leads to 3 different camp spots.
The views were amazing. On Saturday clouds came and went all day but Sunday was clear blue skies. The only thing I'd suggest would be to bring some sort of bug spray stronger than Off. The bugs were insanely annoying. I mean constant. We sprayed, and sprayed, and sprayed. We spent most the evening in the tent reading and looking at the trees and lakes.
The next morning we woke up, relaxed enjoyed the sunshine and morning mountain air. The bugs were beginning to get horrific again so we left our campsite around 8:45 A.M. and arrived back at our car at 12:30 P.M.
We hiked 12 Miles and 2,425 feet of gain. Other than the bugs this was a great little backpacking trip. Just under an hour and half from the city, and you can be in the wilderness.
**Note if you are looking for some seclusion on your hike I'd encourage you to cross the stream to the other side of Dorothy. There were several groups of campers with kids and dogs. So if you want to find a spot more to yourself crossing the stream will be your best bet.
Happy Hiking!
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