Canyon Creek Lakes Day Hike

After our backpacking trip up Stuart Fork and out Stoney Ridge, we decided to take the last day of our vacation and hike up to the Canyon Creek Lakes as a day hike. Mind you, we are a little crazy--this hike is about 17 miles round trip. We were really tired at the end of the day!!

We loved this hike. The Canyon Creek Lakes area is beautiful, and the river (when the trail is close or overlooks it) is gorgeous. We decided we'd definitely put this on our "we'd backpack this area to explore more" list. It's popular, but we did this hike on the 4th of July and only saw 2 tents set up! We did see a good bunch of people hiking, but it seems like there was plenty of room to spread out. We thought some of the sites along the river would be great if you just wanted to hang out by the river (possibly with your kids). It's not a difficult hike, and the way in is definitely a little more difficult than the hike out (downhill on the way out).

Here are a few photos:

At a waterfall below the first Canyon Creek Lake.

We took too many photos from the same location! 

But you can see the beauty of the steep granite surrounding the lakes:

Trinity Wilderness Backpacking Part 3 of 3

Trinity Backpacking Trip Part 3 of 3!

These photos start with the morning of day 3 and end with the end of our trip, day 4.

Breakfast: Sweet potato cinnamon oatmeal with dried apples, raisins and granola topping.

The day started with a short hike from our campsite (without our packs). Adam went all the way to the top of Siligo Peak. He took this picture looking down on Deer Lake and the trail we took to get to Summit Lake (in the foreground). To continue on our trip, we'll go back down that trail across the snow, and up the switchbacks in the granite on the far side of the bowl and over the other pass. 

Siligo Meadows after hiking over pass at Deer Lake. We are about to hike over Little Stonewall Pass.

Echo lake is back in there! We didn't see any good campsites.

Continued hiking down below Echo Lake and found a few great campsites. This was the best one. Great views for 360 degrees!

Camping in a wet meadowy area, our actual campsite was very dry. We expected mosquitos but had almost none.

Dinner night three: Potatoes with ground turkey and veggies. Delish!

The camp.

Great views from camp! That is Van Matre Meadows.

Spencer was very photogenic that evening.

Morning of the last day!! Up and over (big) Stonewall Pass!

At the top of the pass! Looking down. This day we dropped down ~5100 feet! 

Looking back over the pass from where we came.

On the way down we saw lots of flowers, especially when we got lower. 

Blooming azaleas!

Aaaand...back to the van. Check out the next post about the last day of our vacation, 

when we hiked out to Canyon Creek area!

Trinity Wilderness Backpacking Part 2 of 3

Post Part 2 of 3! Photos! 

These photos are from days 1 and 2 of our backpacking trip. The last photo was taken on the evening of the second day. Post Part 3 of 3 contains the photos from days 3 and 4.

Lunch stop near Morris Meadows. 

Apple jerky makes a great snack.

Emerald Lake. It was rainy off and on, but very warm.

The view looking back towards our camp down the canyon. 

We camped about 3/4 of a mile away from Emerald Lake.

Dinner night one! Burritos. This contains the dried beans and ground beef and salsa leather. 

Just add hot water...

...And you get a FANTASTIC burrito! 

We packed in a little cabbage for crunch, pepper jack cheese, avocado, and goldfish. 

Dude on watch for squirrels.

Camp on the first night. Right next to Stuart Fork, just downstream from Emerald Lake.

Dessert on night one: Mixed dried fruit, add hot water and chocolate, serve over dried angel food cake. 

Just watch out if your stomach cannot handle a lot of fiber very well...

Day 2: Back through Morris Meadows on our way to Deer Creek Trail.

On Deer Creek Trail up and over Bear Pass.

Arriving at Deer Lake! Lunch stop.

Deer Creek below us, and hiking up and around Deer Lake to Summit Lake.

The worst part of the whole trip: Passing over snow fields on the switchbacks going up and around Deer Lake to Summit Lake!

We started wayyy down there near the lake!

Just over the pass and about to head down to Summit Lake!

Spencer cornered a chipmunk under a rock and was looking intently under the rock for a very long time. Adam went to check it out too. 

Dinner on Day 2! Mac and cheese with chopped deli meat and mixed veggies. This was our least favorite dinner but still edible. We think it was a weird taste mixture between the deli meat and the cheese. We'll experiment more to figure that one out...

Summit Lake in the evening. Stunning.

Continue on to Part 3: Pictures from Days 3 and 4!