Chain Lakes Loop — Monday, Sep. 1, 2025

Beautiful hike and amazing mountain views! You had to work hard for it though with the heat. It took us 6 hours, with a 1 hour lunch break / swim.

We started at 9:00 am from Artist's Point and hiked the loop counter clockwise. The bathrooms at Artists point were really bad - lots if tp and trash scattered around the toilet. When we arrived at the parking lot you could see and smell smoke from the wildfires. However, once we started hiking we didn't notice it and it wasn’t a problem for the rest of the time.

The ascend up to Herman's saddle is entirely exposed and a bit brutal in the sun. Bring lots of water and don't forget your hat and suncreen!! I had just enough water, but wish I would have brought more. We stopped for a swim in Iceburg Lake which made the ascend back up more manageable. The trail back to Artist's point after Iceburg is also entirely exposed.

There were beautiful wildflowers, pica, and tons of awesome columnar basalt! The basalt lends to the trail being quite rocky throughout. There were lots of families and kids hiking this, which was quite impressive! I used AllTrails to navigate which proved to be very helpful and definately saved me some confusion and backtracking.

Overall it is an absolutely beautiful hike with stunning views!! A good challenge and I appreciate that it's a loop so you are always seeing something new around the bend.