Silver Lake - Monte Cristo — Saturday, Jul. 6, 2019

Wow! What a spectacular hike! Legs and feet are barking but so glad we did this one!

Arrived at the Barlow Pass trailhead around 7:30 AM and found plenty of parking. It’s been awhile since we’ve been to this trailhead (we did gothic basin one year ago which shares the same trailhead). We were a little confused as to where to start but after wandering around for a couple minutes we found the gate just off the highway and traveled down the gravel road until we found the Gothic Basin/Weeden Creek Trailhead signs. It’s about 3/4 mile from the parking lot area.

The Monte Cristo trail is actually to the left of the Gothic basin starting point. At the start, you travel through some forest trail along the Sauk River. If you pass a run-down looking outhouse along the riverbank, you are nearing the log to cross the river. From there it’s easy to pick up where the main trail starts again as you begin down a wide gravel road with a few washouts. We saw a small black bear across the river on this stretch.

Monte Cristo was interesting and a little bit creepy, as we did not see another soul until a few minutes after we reached the old townsite. We met a resident who actually owns one of the old cabins there that told us a little about the area and directed us where to explore. We didn’t realize anyone actually lives here-they ask that visitors respect the no trespassing signs near occupied cabins.

The hike to Silver Lake was steep and very rocky. I found it difficult mostly because of all the walking we had previously done to reach Monte Cristo. It would’ve been pretty easy if this was our starting point. Silver Lake that was spectacularly beautiful and worth every step. (In total we took 40,000 of them during today’s hike.)

Today was a day hike for us, but silver lake would’ve made for a fantastic camping spot. I’d love to see twin lakes too-some photos other hikers have submitted for twin lakes on WTA are incredible! We saw about 4 people at the lake and had a great quiet hike.