Quick notes on the Golden Lakes Loop - 3 Days/2 Nights with summits of Switchback, Martin and Bigelow and visits to Cooney Lake, Boiling Lake and Upper Eagle Lake.
ROAD: to Crater Creek TH: Doable in my little Nissan Versa Note! There were a couple of bumpy/rocky spots but I just took it slow. The outhouse at the TH had no TP and was kinda stinky.
Since this was a shared use trail frequented by mountain bikes and motorcycles, the trails were all in good shape for the whole loop and generally gained elevation at a moderate grade with some steeper/rockier sections here and there. Everyone we were passed by was courteous and would let us know how many in their party were still coming along.
WATER: The trails were mostly dry - I think we had maybe one water crossing between the trailhead and Cooney Lake, and one water trickle between Boiling Lake and Hoodoo Pass. In general, I'd plan to fill up at the lakes.
LARCHES: were just past prime, still very pretty in faded gold, but many trees were half bare.
We began at the Crater Creek TH, hiked in past Cooney Lake, and summited Switchback on day 1. Switchback was a straightforward climb up from the pass from the Angel's Staircase above Cooney. From there, we followed the ridge north towards Martin hoping to find a bivy site, but didn't find anything great. We ended up dropping a little bit off the ridge before it steepened on the climb up towards Martin, and we set up camp at around 7850' in the flattest patch of rocks we could find.
The next morning, we packed up and headed up Martin Peak which was a quick climb from camp. From the summit, we headed a short way on the ridge towards Cheops but the terrain here was more rugged and scrambly and very slow-going with full packs, so we decided to bail off the ridge in interest of time and dropped northwest. This was a bit of a slow, loose and chossy descent that eventually turned into steep woods (carpets of larch needles can be slippery!), but we eventually made it down to the flatter meadow and picked up the (Wiebe Pass?) trail that led us to Boiling Lake where tons of tiny frogs frolicked.
We set up camp on the east side of Boiling Lake and headed out on the Hoodoo Pass trail with much lighter packs. We followed the trail all the way up to the pass. From the pass, we cut west up towards Bigelow, which was pretty smooth sailing to the summit except for a section of large boulders that we had to hop through, some of which were annoyingly wobbly. We enjoyed the summit for a while with views over Upper Eagle Lake.
We opted for a more direct descent route off of Bigelow, angling more southwest than our ascent. This route took us through more scree/looser terrain that actually went pretty easily on the descent (but probably would have been more annoying to climb).
On our final day, we climbed up to Horsehead Pass and then took a side trip to Upper Eagle Lake before heading back out the Eagle Lakes trail to complete our loop.
Backcountry toilets were available at all three lakes, with the one at Boiling Lake providing the most privacy. It seemed like Upper Eagle was the most busy backpacking destination out of the three lakes we visited.
This area truly is a wonderful larchland and is definitely popular for a reason in the fall!
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