JUNE 2021
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BLUE ROCK LAKE
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BEAD LAKES
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| ABOVE BLUE ROCK LAKE |
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| ABOVE BLUE ROCK LAKE |
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| KATHERINE LAKE |
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| ALPINE LAKE |
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| FEATHER LAKES |
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| KATHERINE LAKE |
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| MCWILLARD LAKE |
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| UPPER REDFISH LAKE |
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| WARBONNET LAKES |
Ever since dropping in to visit the Feather Lakes on a previous backpacking trip, I'd always been curious what all the other lakes in this basin looked like. There are no trails or easy ways to get into it, so it receives very few visitors, and there is not much information on it online. I'd tried hiking up canyon to these lakes from the Grandjean Trailhead once, but the canyon was choked with shrubs and ground cover that made it too exhausting and time-consuming for me to reach it. So this time I decided to start at Redfish Lake, take the boat shuttle across the lake, backpack to the Upper Redfish Lakes, and then day hike into the basin the following day.
Getting to the Upper Redfish Lakes takes a bit work. I started by taking the trail to Alpine Lake, which is very well maintained, and then began to climb the ridge to the southwest to reach the Upper Redfish Lakes Basin. I tried hugging the very southern ridge of the canyon on my way there to avoid some extra climbing, but later regretted it, as there were some pretty steep, dicey sections that made me a little nervous.
I eventually made it down to the lakes, which were very nice. However, while mosquitos were not a problem anywhere else I had been that day, for some reason they were swarming at the Upper Redfish Lakes. I'd never seen them so bad. There were clouds of them in the sky, and I heard a constant hum of them buzzing the entire time I was there. Though after the tiring hike I had, I decided to just set my tent up there anyway, on a flat spot between the two lakes. After recovering for a bit in the tent, I later got the energy to climb the ridge behind the lakes to Katherine Lake, which was very beautiful, and had much less mosquitos.
The next day I climbed the ridge above the Warbonnet Lakes, and after exploring a bit, found a safe route to them. I continued around the Warbonnet Lakes to the Feather Lakes, trying to get some quick photos before the sun rose up behind them. I then made my way to the Bead Lakes, which was one of my favorite areas I visited on that trip. From here I made the steep drop down to Blue Rock Lake, which had a very impressive, triangular rock face behind it as a backdrop. It was then a long scramble to the McWillard Lakes and a bit further to Oreamus Lake. I then followed the inlet of Oreamus Lake up to Packrat Lake.
This half of the basin was not as pretty as the other half, as the mountain peaks were a bit more rounded and crumbly. It's still a nice place, but if you are short on time, definitely go with the area between the Feather Lakes and Blue Rock Lake. From Packrat it was a long, steep climb over a ridge to get back to the Upper Redfish Lakes. Once back at camp, I found it was too hot to relax inside my tent, and there were too many mosquitos for me to enjoy myself outside the tent, so I just packed everything up quick and made the hike back to the boat shuttle. This time I just followed the outlet to the Upper Redfish Lakes down to Redfish Creek and followed it back to trail. This actually turned out to be a very brutal hike, with a lot of obstacles and ground cover to work through in order to reach the main trail.
All in all, a nice, tiring trip. If you try this, it may be best to wait until later in the year when the mosquitos are dead, or maybe camp at Alpine Lake where they aren't so bad. Also, there were a few additional lakes near Oreamus Lake that I was too tired to make it to which might be nice.
