These trails and the chiwawa river road are now closed due to the Pomas Fire.

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It’s not possible to use the log to cross the river lots of down tree .overgrown trail. In a few places you can’t even see the trail.

Gorgeous fall colors with the trail to ourselves! The brushiness and logs have been documented in previous reports, so I'll just give a quick tip for crossing the log jam. Once you get to the other side, instead of immediately jumping to shore and going left, go one more log (to your right) onto higher ground and you'll find the trail right there. We went the other way and had to do a bit of soggy bushwhacking :) Of course, this note could be out of date after the next big rain. Enjoy your hike! 

I have been meaning to hike Schaefer Lake trail for some time.  The trip reports of the blowdowns always discouraged me from doing so but today I decided to just go for it.  I arrived at the parking lot around 2:45 pm and was the only vehicle there.  The short walk to the river is brushy.  Once you get to the river, go downstream to the big log jam.  This log jam really sets the tone for the hike: up; over; and under logs for 50 yards to get across the river.  By yourself, or with a dog that can be off a leash, it would be easier than with my "never off a leash" coonhound.  But we made it with minor mishaps.  Not sure I would hike this trail mid summer due to this river crossing alone. I would imagine its class 3 underneath you on the crossing.

Once over the river you walk through an old growth cedar forest and then into a fairly brushy section with minimal blowdowns.  After the brush is when the blowdowns really start picking up.  Overall, most were not bad.  There were only 6 or so that were bad.  Bad, meaning it was awkwardly tall to go over but also too short to go under kind of thing.  The trail was graded nicely all the way to the lakes with peak-a-boo vistas along the way.  There was ample water sources so no need to pack much water. 

The route between little schaefer lake and schaefer lake is short but very brushy.  You can barely tell that you are on a trail.  Once I got to schaefer lake I went to the left and found a very nice large campsite with a privy close by.  It could easily hold 3 larger tents. Would make a great backpacking destination if it wasnt for carrying an overnight pack through the blowdowns.  

I was short on time so after a quick stop at the lake, we had to turn and burn it back down the trail.  On the way down we encountered 1 black bear about 1/2 mile from Schaefer Lake and 1 hunter about half way down the trail hunting said bear.

Overall it took me about  4.25 hours round trip. I feel like the wta elevation and mileage is a little bloated.  Gaia has it at around 8 miles with 2700 vert.  

Hike Highlights: the miles and miles of ripe huckleberries along the trail; the groves of old (second) growth cedars and firs in the 1st mile along the Chiwawa flood plain; and standing, thigh-high, in the not painfully cold Chiwawa River at the end of a very long and hot hike.

Hike Lowlights: lots of brush along sections of the trail (route finding not difficult per se; you just need to keep your eyes down to see where the fairly well-worn trail heads) and quite a few of downed trees in/across the trail to climb over, around, or under (~13 in the 2.5 miles after the river and ~23 in the last 2 miles).

Observations:

— Cross over the Chiwawa (for the trail up to the lake) on the log-jam slightly downstream from where the “Foot” crossing drops down to the river. There are a better set of sturdy, jammed logs there.  

— The “Horse Crossing” back from the lake has five more downed trees and lots of brush plus a 2-3 foot drop from the river bank to the river.