Dutch/Hidden Lakes
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| Dutch Lake South |
Dutch Lake North |
Hidden Lake |
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| Boulder Pond |
Boulder Pond |
Boulder Pond |
This trail climbs from 7,340 feet to 9,160 in 3 miles. If you want a good
workout in a short time, this is the perfect hike. The trail that leads to
Dutch Lake is tough (steep) and starts at a high elevation which means you
might start out-of-breath.
The last time I did this hike was on a 4th of July weekend and I encountered
absolutely no one! I was amazed because the parking lots below were full, the
campgrounds were full, and it was a holiday. Most of the visitors to Florence
Lake come for the fishing, camping, or both. The few backpackers I encountered
took the ferry across Florence Lake to start at a trailhead on the other side.
As a note, if you're staying in the campground at Florence Lake (Jackass
Meadows) then be sure the sample taste the water before you use it. When I
stayed there it was full of rust from the pipes so I don't recommend it to
anyone for drinking. The best advice I can give is to sample a few different
water sources. If you don't find one that's palatable then pump your drinking
water straight from one of the many streams.
The trailhead is at the north end of Florence Lake at the lowest level parking.
This parking also serves the day-use area at the edge of the lake.
The simple wooden (and decaying) trailhead sign near the parking lot points left
to the Florence Lake trailhead (1/4 mile) and right to Dutch and Hidden Lakes.
There is no mileage information and the 7.5 topographic maps for this hike
(Florence Lake and Ward Mountain) can only provide an estimate due to the
switchbacks which are not visible on the maps.
This trail starts out steep and stays that way for about 2 miles. At this point
the trail will alternate between moderately steep and very steep until you
reach Dutch Lake. The first and largest of about 3 to 4 water sources
encountered on the way to Dutch Lake is Crater Creek running from Crater Lake.
The tree cover of Lodgepole Pines and Douglas Firs provides about 50% shade on
a sunny day.
The trail up to Dutch Lake can sometimes be difficult to follow as it passes
over many small granite rock fields. At these points the prankster rocks did
their best to lead me away from the trail and they succeeded many times. The
only things that kept me on track during most of my wanderings were the stacked
rock trail markers. The forest service tells us not to create this rock stacks
but I was glad they were there!
While approaching Dutch Lake from the trail I noticed a great campsite directly
to the left. Although there wasn't a soul in sight and the campsite wasn't
occupied there was a log-bench and even a large stash of firewood; including
kindling. I just wish I could get service like this down in the campgrounds
where I had to pay to stay! The other bummer of not finding anyone at the top
as I had hoped was that I couldn't bum any bug juice of anyone. I was being
eaten ALIVE!
Upon reaching Dutch Lake I was greeted by the incredible beauty of glassy water
framed by green forest and a touch of granite on the opposite side. The sound
of the lake even caught my attention . . . there wasn't any; with the exception
of 2 or 3 birds periodically speaking up to let me know that I wasn't
completely alone. And even more captivating was the concentric waves created by
the feasting fish. If it wasn't for the skeeters, I could have stayed there all
day.
Even though my topo didn't show it, my path then lead directly to the left
(south) on a primitive trail that lead to Hidden Lake. After walking a short
distance the trail becomes a bit better maintained and easier to follow.
About 1/4 of a mile later I came across a view very similar to that of Dutch
Lake . . . Hidden Lake. In my opinion, the differences between Dutch and Hidden
lakes are few and here they are. Even though you can walk all the way around
Dutch Lake, there is more usable camping space at Hidden Lake and more swamp
space (meadow) at Dutch Lake. I found one campsite (not ground) at Dutch Lake
while I found four sites at Hidden Lake; three of them fantastic! I'm quite
sure that someone would be very upset that I'm putting these little secrets on
the Net.
Since this was only a three-mile hike, when I was on the south side of Hidden
Lake, I scrambled up the ridge directly south of the lake. This ridge in itself
is a fantastic place to hang out and to simply enjoy the forest. After eating
lunch (ham sammich) I headed east towards a small collection of four ponds
(Southeast of Hidden Lake) that have no name on the topo. Therefore, until
someone tells me what their names are, I'll call them the Boulder Ponds.
On the topo, the Boulder Ponds are all in the same elevation gradient and are
very close together. This makes them look like they would be easy to explore .
. . NOT! There are car-sized boulders that separate and impregnate these
impetuous little ponds. This means that boulder hopping is a necessity where
falling would mean breaking something precious and/or getting wet. But that's
OK because they turned out to be the most entertaining part of the trip!
Use the standard Day Hike Checklist for
this hike.
Everything I described above in the Trail Description
was done in about 5 1/2 hours. Since it takes 3 hours to get to the trailhead,
my suggestion is to camp at Florence Lake or the nearby Ward Lake.
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