This was a hike I’d been wanting to do for a long time.
A friend and I parked one truck in the empty Bumping Lake TH lot on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend. We hiked up past Swamp Lake to the American Ridge trail. The grade was moderate for the most part, the trail was well maintained, and there were a handful of campers at Swamp.
Once on the ridge trail we hiked west for a couple miles to American Lake. This was very nice meadow country, with occasional views, but nothing too grand as the clouds were coming in.
At the junction with the Cougar Lakes trail be sure to bear to the right - I didn’t, and added about a mile to my day.
Once we got to American Lake, the clouds were there to stay and the winds picked up. There were about 3-4 other groups camping at the lake when we arrived, and a few more came in during the late afternoon and evening. Lots of dogs….and no necessarily the obedient kind.
I fished for a while with no luck. As the clouds were getting lower, the temp was dropping, and the wind was picking up we opted for dinner and bourbon around 7pm and then tucked in for the night.
It didn’t seem to rain much overnight, but it was definitely chilly and the winds kept up.
In the morning, things were pretty well soaked and I had a breakfast in the fog. We didn’t linger too long and we’re back on the trail - heading towards the PCT - by 9am or so.
Once on the PCT we headed north towards Dewey Lakes, and got a few views along the way as the clouds began to break up.
Just south of Dewey, we turned east on the Dewey Lake trail and enjoyed a descent into the valley for the next several miles. This trail was very cool - though the upper portion does not appear to have seen much maintenance in many years. It would be unfortunate if this trail disappeared, and I am afraid it just might.
The trail started steeply downhill before crossing a few meadows and a marsh and returning to the big timber forest. There is a 2-3 mile section which involves going over and/or around hundreds of fallen trees. This really took some steam out of us.
However, we also saw a beautiful terraced waterfall and heard a bull elk bugle a few times. I really thought this neck of the woods was a gem.
At the valley bottom (after a simple crossing of the American River), we dealt with a few more logs until noticing the horse poop - and then some trail maintenance. This was a big relief as we were pretty worn out by now.
The last few miles amounted to a pleasant forest walk to the American River (another simple crossing) and my truck at the Mesatchee Creek TH.
All in all I’d guess that we did about 21-22 miles (including turn arounds and wandering), and our elevation gain/loss between the trucks and the PCT was around 2500’ or so. I don't really keep stats.
Anyway, I hope somebody gives the Dewey Lakes (American River) trail a try. It’s worth the effort.
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