SEPTEMBER 2018
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| FEATHER LAKES |
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| FEATHER LAKES |
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| WARBONNET LAKE |
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| BARON LAKE FROM ABOVE |
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| ABOVE ALPINE LAKE |
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| ON THE RIDGE BETWEEN WARBONNET LAKE & BARON LAKES |
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| ALPINE LAKE FROM ABOVE |
The Feather Lakes are beautiful, but they do take some effort to reach. To get to them, we day hiked from our campsite near the Redfish Lake Creek/Alpine Lake Trail junction. The previous day we had taken the Redfish Lake shuttle to the end of the lake and visited the Saddleback Lakes. I believe it was around ten miles round-trip from our campsite, but it involved some brutal climbing. The trail to Alpine Lake gains a lot of elevation, but it never gets too steep, as it has a lot of switchbacks. A little past Alpine Lake you will need to leave the trail and head for the ridge above the lake. There were a few cairns along the way to the ridge, but it is mostly up to you to make your way. We scrambled up a steep rock field on our way up, but ended up finding a decent trail to take on the way down this section.
Once you reach the ridge, you will see the Baron Lakes below to your right and a scary looking walk along the ridge to the next basin where the Warbonnet and Feather Lakes are. It looks scary, but there is a path to follow, and once you get on it its not as bad as it looks. Once over to the next ridge you will see the Warbonnet Lakes down a long, steep slope. There is a trail going down the slope, but it is very steep. You will need to go very slowly to avoid sliding down. Once at the bottom, it is just a short peaceful walk along a stream from the Warbonnet Lakes to the Feather Lakes. This was a beautiful basin that we had all to ourselves. The lakes were all pretty, and had lots of fish swimming around in them. I'm already planning on coming back so I can check out the many other lakes located in this basin. I tried hiking to it from Grandjean once, but the canyon was choked with bushes and other ground cover that made it too exhausting and time-consuming. Next time I'm planning to set up camp at the Upper Redfish Lakes, and pop over the ridge from there so I can spend a day checking out the area.
