Hit the trail at 9:15 on a Thursday morning. Found a parking spot in the parking lot and we saw the remitments of the window smashing break-ins from Tuesday. Glass all over the parking lot but we took our chances. My friend hung paper towels and left a note on the Kia that was still in the parking lot – so sorry that happened to you if you are reading this!
Bugs were not too bad but were annoying at Tank Lakes. We had mosquito nets and were fine for the most part. Way less bugs at Jade Lake.
The trailhead states that it is 7 miles to Jade Lake but it is really 9 miles. The first 6 miles are fairly flat / rolling hills. Gained about 500 feet in elevation. Once you cross the river around mile 6 the climb really starts. Go to your right instead of going straight up the first boulder field. There is a more direct route there with more cairns. You will have to climb over a freshly cut tree. It is pretty much a straight climb up to Jade from there that levels off a bit as you get closer to Jade. We got to Jade at around 15:15 and took a half hour break or so then started the final push to Tank Lakes. The next mile or so was easy through the meadow / by the cabin then you come across the next boulder field.
The cairns were accurately placed, and we followed them up and had no problems with directions on the way up. Once you cross the first boulder field with the much bigger boulders you come into a tiny little meadow area where you can look up and either go more to the left / straight and the route is less steep and you climb over three or four “hills” until you reach Tank Lakes. Or you can also go to your right and climb steeply up and find yourself above the boulder “hills” and you will find social trails to take you to Tank Lakes. Beautiful views of Baker if you choose the route to the right. We went up going more to the left and came down using the steeper route to the right. We struggled getting down since we didn’t go down the way we went up. I would stick with the same way each time to save you time / energy.
We got to Tank Lakes at 18:15 so all in all it took us 9 hours to get up. I had problems with my pack and was going quite slow. We definitely took our time getting up with lots of breaks, but I would leave more time than you think you need for the last 2.5 miles that is literally walking on precarious rocks / boulders. Takes a lot of mental and physical energy but so worth it! There were at least five other groups there already on Thursday when we arrived, but we found a nice campsite after some searching. There is lots of room around the lakes although lower Tank lake definitely looks more like a pond. I found the lakes a bit underwhelming. The views of Chimney Rock, Overcoat Peak, and Chief Mountain were definitely more breathtaking.
We went swimming Friday morning and saw some people diving in. The lake was quite cold but not unbearable and felt so good on our sore muscles. We headed out to camp at Emerald or Jade lake around 1 PM after enjoying our morning. We ran into quite a few groups (maybe 8 or 10?) coming down. It took us 3 hours and 30 minutes to make it 3.5 miles down to Jade given the boulder situation and not going back the same way we came. The spot at Emerald was taken so we went down to Jade and luckily got the very nice spot on the south side of the lake. There were fresh bear and cougar prints around Jade lake. Two other groups ended up coming in after 8 PM and camped “illegally” right on the water which was upsetting to see but I get that it was late / they needed somewhere to camp for the night safely. Got woken up at 1:45 AM too by two guys yelling on the trail coming in or going out… Definitely a busy trail…
Took us 6 hours to hike out Saturday morning with a lunch break along the river. We ran into ~15 different parties or so and most people had overnight packs on.
The trip clocked in at 24.7 miles and 5,406 feet of elevation gained in total.
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