Had a successful attempt navigating to Horseshoe Lake off the Dingford Creek trail. The first 2.5ish miles along Dingford creek contained mostly switchbacks through a beautiful forest. After the switchbacks the trail flattens a bit and goes through a very overgrown section of huckleberries and Devil's Club.
After crossing Pumpkinseed creek, the junction to get to the lake is just around the corner. There is no official marker for this trail, but we noticed some pink ribbons and followed them up.
CalTopo says the lake is 0.9 miles from the junction which is accurate, but it feels longer because of how steep it is. Not to mention, we hiked up in the fog so all the bushes we brushed past were soaking wet. We pushed up the trail and were able to follow it almost the whole way. There was one spot where we lost the trail on the way up, where we first started the notice Skunk Cabbage growing. We meandered around a bit and were able to find the trail again. We didn't have any more trouble after getting through this point, and we didn't veer off the trail on the way back down.
We got to the lake and it was completely covered by fog. Took our lunch break and rung the water out of some of our clothes, and like magic, the lake appeared through the fog. It was certainly worth sticking around for a bit because it really is a gorgeous lake.
The hike down was hard on the knees and very wet; we found ourselves slipping multiple times. Poles would have been helpful, but I wouldn't say they are necessary.
Our total mileage ended up being 7.77 miles with 2629 ft. of elevation gain. Didn't see a single person on the trail all day.
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