JULY 2022
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ONE OF THE STEVENS LAKES FROM ABOVE
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| FISHHOOK CREEK MEADOW |
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| LOWER STEVENS LAKE |
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| VIEW FROM UPPER STEVENS LAKE |
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| ONE OF THE STEVENS LAKES FROM ABOVE |
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| POND BELOW THE STEVENS LAKES |
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| LOWER STEVENS LAKE |
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| LOWER STEVENS LAKE |
I accessed the Stevens Lakes via an approximately fifteen-mile roundtrip hike beginning at the Redfish Lake Trailhead. For the first two miles, I followed the trail to the Fishhook Creek Meadow, which is a nice hike in and of itself. After reaching the meadow, the trail will continue on for about a half-mile before it fades away. To reach the first Stevens Lake, you will need to continue up the main canyon about four more miles. With how popular Redfish Lake and Fishhook Creek are, its a bit surprising there isn't trail to the Stevens Lake, and how few people visit them.
The first two miles after the end of the trail were pretty rough for me. I tried to stay close to the creek as I made my way up the canyon, which was not easy. There were many fallen trees to climb over, and a lot of watery areas covered in plants and bushes that made it difficult to see the ground. This portion of the hike required a lot of effort, and made me second-guess my decision to hike these lakes. For this section, it may be better to stay up a bit higher along the right side of the canyon, rather than deal with all the water, brush and fallen trees in the middle of the canyon.
After battling through this section, the canyon begins to clear up. There are fewer fallen trees and fewer marshy areas as the canyon becomes a bit steeper. There are several boulder fields to make your way through, which I didn't mind as they were much easier than what I had been dealing with. There is also a faint trail fading in and out for the last two miles that I was very grateful for. Toward the top of the canyon, the creek gets really wide and the scenery becomes really nice. To reach the first Stevens Lake, you will just follow the main stream to the left as it waterfalls down a short hill.
While this area was extremely pretty, I remember getting hit really hard by mosquitos once I finally made it to the top of the canyon. I was there in July during a very wet year, so I shouldn't have been surprised, but it was a little sad that they only really became a problem when I finally made it to the nice part. Anyway, the first lake is amazing, and is the nicest of the group. From the first lake it was fun just following the inlets from lake to lake until arriving to the last one. While the last lake appears close to the middle one, it requires a steep climb to reach. Once there, it provides some really nice views of the canyon below.
There are also some smaller lakes on the other side of the basin that I had originally planned to visit before being worn down by the rough climb up the canyon. I'd even timed it to be there right after the snow had melted off of them, but before the water levels began to drop. Oh, well. This was a hike I was glad to cross off my list, but I don't plan on coming back up again. It appears these lakes could also be accessed from the Baron Lakes if backpacking in that area.
