Trinity Alps & Vicinity: Including Whiskeytown, Russian Wilderness, and Castle Crags Areas. Mike White

big as two-story houses.

      On the north side of Sapphire Lake, work your way up to a shelf about 100 feet or more above the surface and push through the brush almost directly west, with traces of a boot-beaten, unmaintained path offering some shaky assurance that you’re on the right route. After about 0.5 mile, the brush thins a tad in a slide area about 300 or 400 yards from the lake, where ducks point north toward a pair of sheer-faced granite knobs. This route is passable, crossing below a waterfall on Mirror Lake’s outlet, and then scrambling around an outcrop and up a tilted ledge and a chimney to the lip of the shelf. However, a safer, although longer, route continues west to the north edge of a giant talus slope above the head of Sapphire Lake and boulder-hops up to the far end of a shelf holding Mirror Lake. Either route is very strenuous, but your first glimpse of exquisite Mirror Lake beyond the ridges of glaciated granite on the shelf will make the climb seem worthwhile.

      From the open east edge of the shelf a sensational panorama unfolds, including the entire upper Stuart Fork Canyon. Emerald and Sapphire Lakes shimmer far below, with sheer canyon walls climaxing in Sawtooth Ridge to the north and Sawtooth Mountain to the south. Sunrises seen from this lofty perch can be truly inspirational.

      The heavy use that prevails around the two lower lakes is rare at Mirror Lake, but please tread lightly here and leave no remnants of your presence. A few unprotected, fair campsites lie in the hollows of rock southeast of the lake. Although more trees seem able to survive up here than down at Sapphire Lake, firewood is extremely scarce and should not be used. Shallow pockets of the lake may be warm enough for swimming by mid-August afternoons, and 10-inch rainbows cruising the drop-offs near sunset will tempt anglers. Rock climbers should find the walls of the upper cirque challenging.

      Mirror Lake certainly lives up to its name; soaring walls of granite on three sides, punctuated by dwarfed weeping spruce and mountain hemlock, and a perpetual snowfield above the west shore are stunningly reflected in the usually placid water. For thousands of years, slowly moving ice ground and gouged at the resistant granite shelf, leaving behind the polished mounds and ridges and the 12- to 15-acre lake with a convoluted shoreline and four small rock islands.

      STUART FORK TRAILHEAD

      TRIP 6 Stuart Fork to Alpine Lake

      

      Although it is at an elevation of only 6,112 feet, Alpine Lake possesses many of the characteristics that its name suggests.

      Trip Type:

      Backpack, 2–4 days

      Distance & Configuration:

      17.4-mile out-and-back (plus 4-mile cross-country trip to Smith and Morris Lakes)

      Elevation Change:

      3,800' (average 772'/mile)

      Difficulty:

      Moderate

      Season:

      Mid-July–late September

      Maps:

      USGS Rush Creek Lakes and Siligo Peak; USFS A Guide to the Trinity Alps Wilderness

      Management:

      Weaverville Ranger District, 530-623-2121, fs.usda.gov/stnf

      Nearest Campground:

      Bridge

      Lovely, picturesque Alpine Lake covers the bottom of a glacier-carved slot on the ridge north of Little Granite Peak and west of the lower Stuart Fork Valley. Little sunshine reaches the bottom of the steep-walled basin, and snowfields may linger around the lake until the end of July, resulting in an ecosystem one might expect to see at much higher altitudes. Along with the dramatic vertical scenery around the lake, the main attractions include abundant marsh-oriented wildflowers in the verdant little valley just below the lake, and the opportunity to explore, off-trail, the high ridge leading north to secluded Smith and Morris Lakes immediately below rugged Sawtooth Mountain.

      Since trail improvements were made in the late 1970s, adding a mile of longer switchbacks, Alpine Lake has become a more popular destination. Subsequently, the USFS has allowed the trail to devolve into a scramble route, with rough and indistinct tread in places. Campfires are banned, the three small campsites around the lake are often full, and the rodent population has been problematic in the past. Fishing is only fair for small eastern brook trout in the lake and in pools in the creek below the lake. However, the view from the top of the trail back down Stuart Fork Valley to Trinity Lake is still quite spectacular, and the beauty around Alpine Lake is sublime.

      The 2,600-foot climb from Oak Flat to the lake is arduous, with some very steep and rocky pitches. The trail is not recommended for equestrians or pack stock. If you are backpacking, plan on a four-hour climb from Oak Flat and get an early start; the last 2 miles of trail to the lake are steep and exposed. Water can be easily acquired only once along the way, at about 1.75 miles from Oak Flat, where the trail nearly reaches the outlet.

      GPS COORDINATES N40° 52.400' W122° 55.082'

      DIRECTIONS About 13 miles north of Weaverville, CA 3 turns northwest out of the lower end of Slate Creek Canyon and runs along the shoreline of Trinity Lake past Tan Bark Picnic Area and a USFS information center, before crossing a bridge over the Stuart Fork arm of the lake. At the north end of the bridge, Trinity Alps Road turns west from the highway and soon leads to Trinity Alps Resort. The store, when open, is a good place to pick up last-minute supplies, and the dining room offers quite palatable meals, albeit on a limited schedule.

      Beyond a row of cabins alongside the river the road switches to dirt and gravel and heads up past the resort’s stable and corrals. Drive carefully through the resort and be on the alert for children and animals crossing the road. A quarter mile past the corrals you’ll see the Elk Gulch Trailhead on the right with room for one or two cars. Continue another couple of miles to a locked gate blocking the road. The trailhead parking area is on the left, just beyond Bridge Campground and 3.5 miles from CA 3. Although conveniently located near the trailhead, the campground is cramped and dusty; campgrounds around Trinity Lake offer more aesthetically pleasing alternatives.

      Description

      The first mile of the Stuart Fork Trail follows the continuation of the road across private land, as signs direct you to respect the rights of the property owners by remaining on the road. Veer right at a well-signed fork just beyond the gate (the left-hand road leads to a mining camp near the river) and continue to the end of the road at the wilderness boundary, just past a cabin at Cherry Flat.

      From the boundary, well-defined singletrack trail goes about 200 yards to a crossing of Sunday Creek, the first readily accessible water source. Above the creek you climb away from the river into dense forest of primarily Douglas-fir, with occasional incense cedars, ponderosa pines, and sugar pines. Drop down to a flat beside the Stuart Fork, climb moderately up the side of the canyon, down to another flat with excellent campsites, and then up and down again to a crossing of Little Deep Creek, close to its confluence with the river. Pass another excellent campsite, climb over a mound of glacial till (the first on the way up the valley), and come to a steel girder bridge spanning Deep Creek.

      Smith Lake

      After climbing moderately over another small hump above Deep Creek, you descend to yet another flat, where water from a spring runs across the trail and a number of fine campsites lie between the trail and the river. Four miles into the journey, you’re probably now far enough away from the