Trapper Lake — Thursday, Sep. 7, 2023

I hiked to trapper lake from Pelton Basin. I came from Stehekin and first tried the route from Old cottonwood, and it was sketchy and impossible to find. I found the most-used route from Pelton basin on the way back from trapper. I left at about 9 or 10 am from Pelton, and I did it as a dayhike. My initial route involved traversing the scree field and shooting much higher on the ridge than the common route. I scrambled for a while before I found a trail.

From the basin, walk to the far end of the scree field, and rather than traversing it, follow the trees on the edge. There's a foot path that becomes easier to find the farther up you go. The trail traverses up to a little campsite (no water access though), and switchbacks up to the ridge above Trapper. The trail is okay, and there are other trodden but sketchier routes too. The view down on trapper is incredible, and you can see straight into horseshoe basin!

Going down to the lake, you lose the trail pretty quick. It's mostly a bushwhack, and a pretty brutal one. It's steep and longer than it looks, and there often appeared to sort of be a trail, but I'm pretty sure there is not. It's possible though, and there is a campsite at the bottom. I found the lake itself to be a little spooky (maybe it was the steepness of the basin? or the dense brush up around the lake?). I did go for a swim though, and made it back to Pelton Basin by about 4:30 pm. There were ripe blueberries on the way (last of the season!) and I didn't see anyone else.

I would definitely do this hike again, but only to the top of the ridge overlooking Trapper. It was cool to get down to the lake, but not worth it in my opinion given the bushwhacking conditions. The view of the lake from above is more beautiful anyways I think!