A very nice hike to a beautiful lake basin with golden larch trees just past their peak color. And for those that demand more, there is a steep and challenging (but not technical) bootpath, much of it through loose scree, up to the summit of Abernathy Peak.
- Distance: 11.5 miles
- Elevation gain: 5250 feet
- Duration: 8.3 hours (with lots of rest breaks and picture taking)
- Road and Trailhead: All cars can manage the 3.3 miles of gravel road (it is wide, but slightly bumpy due to washboarding). About 10-12 cars can fit in the small parking area, and there is room for shoulder parking on the short access road and FR4400. There were 7 cars at 7:30 a.m. and 6 cars at 4:00 p.m. The pit toilet was clean, but not stocked.
- Weather: A sunny Sunday, with trailhead temperatures of 35°F at 7:30 a.m. and 66°F at 4:00 p.m.
- Trail: The trail to Scatter Lake is in good condition. The first mile is especially nice as the brush along the trail has been cut back. But the trail over the next 1.5-2 miles was frequently narrow and very brushy, for which I was very glad to be wearing long pants. I counted 24 blowdowns across the first 3 miles of the trail, but it felt much less than 24 as only 4 blowdowns required some effort to navigate (the most difficult one was about 3/4 mile in from the trailhead).
- There was no formal trail to Abernathy Peak, only a bootpath straight up the scree slope from Scatter Lake. The going was most difficult when the scree underfoot was loose -- one step uphill, one-half step slide downhill, and repeat. But about two-thirds of the way up the slope, better footing was found by traversing to the climber’s left and through a rocky outcrop, and then following a clear bootpath the remaining way to the summit. If the climb doesn’t take your breath away, the views from the summit might as peaks galore await on a clear day.
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