Hiked to Rainbow & Island Lakes via the Pratt Lake trail. With no recent trip reports, we weren’t entirely sure what to expect but pleasantly surprised at the mostly good conditions.
Trailhead: parking was maybe half full when we arrived a little after 8am. It quickly started filling up while we were getting ready to head out. The pit toilet was open and surprisingly well stocked.
Trail: the trail starts off wet and muddy, so waterproof boots were helpful. Most of the trail up to the Talapus Lake overlook is in a great shape and the mud after the first mile is minimal. The overlook is about a mile past the junction down to Talapus & Ollalie Lakes. We stopped there for a snack break and chatted with another hiker while a few other groups passed through. At the junction for Pratt or Island Lake, we continued straight towards Rainbow & Island. There is intermittent snow shortly after the junction but it was mostly slushy and well-packed at other times. Once we started descending towards the lakes, the snow was a bit more substantial but maybe no more than a foot and with an easy to follow boot path. The trees were dropping snow and it was windy at times, so we got a bit wet.
Rainbow Lake: it’s a short walk to a nice lunch rock from the junction between the two lakes. Rainbow Lake looked to be fairly small on the map, but we enjoyed our lunch with a view of the partially frozen lake. We had the place to ourselves until we were packed up and ready to leave and then saw 3 more people.
Island Lake: there was more snow on the way to Island Lake, but again, an easy to follow boot path led right to the lake. We both agreed Island Lake was the prettier of the two and made a quick stop here before heading back. We saw the toilet on our way out and it’s currently surrounded by a small pool of water but technically still usable. We saw one other person at the lake and then just one other person on the trail on our hike out. We assumed the majority of people were headed to Granite Mountain.
Lakes should be pretty accessible until the next big storm.
Garmin stats: 13.36 miles and 3,310 elevation gain.
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