Mileage: 6 miles RT (another .2 miles to visit the tarns at 2 miles)
Elevation Gain/Highest: 1355ft/4915ft (but 2655ft of ascent)
Map: Green Trails Silverton No 110
Favorite Eats After Hike: LJs Bistro & Bar, Mirkwood Public House, Creekside Ale House, Glorybucha Microbrewery, River Time Brewing, or just Pack A Cooler. You can learn more about these places in my Must Hike Must Eat Eating Out Guide.
Check here for current conditions and as always, practice Leave No Trace. Pretty Please.
Hike Details:
Independence Lake Trail to North Lake is an alternate lake hike to the overcrowded Lake 22 on the Mountain Loop, look no further! In fact, depending on your ability, you could hit 4 lakes in one day because the trailheads are very close. Independence Lake sits just .7 miles and 200 feet of elevation from the road and the trail is mellow with a few ups and downs but great for most abilities.
If you have more energy, climb another 1200 feet to a ridge above North Lake before dropping down 800 feet to the shore 2.3 miles from Independence. Yep, it is a roller coaster and more of a climber’s path in places.
And if that is not enough, there are two lake trailheads just before this hike, one for Pass Lake (1 mile RT) and Coal Lake (.1 mile RT).
My Hikes:
7/20/2020
Another hike redo for 2020 and this may be one of my favorites so far! Not the road, though. That was horrible, but I guess the slow drive allows you to admire the beautiful landscape.
I knew that a slide had made the independence Lake trailhead inaccessible by car, so as I finished the last mile I was on the lookout for a good pullout to park in. About .8 miles from the trailhead I saw one on my left and driving past saw a car parked up on the left telling me I was close. So, I turned around and parked there. It turned out to be a great spot because the ones closer did not have the benefit of shade!
In .2 miles, I reached the slide and there were two cars parked from the night before. It’s a doozie of a pileup but not hard to walk over. There is a large area in front of the slide that makes a great turn around spot if you want to see how close you can get to park.
From the slide, the road is in great shape! And the views are nice, too. At .45 miles I reached the trailhead for Coal Lake and took the extremely short trail in to see it. Wow, what a surprise. I would camp here.
Back on the road, I reached the Independence Lake trailhead at .8 miles and started up. After a few small switchbacks, I was walking deep into the woods on a nicely graded and wide trail. Bunchberry and avalanche lilies decorated the path along the way.
At 1.2 miles the trail crossed a stream on sturdy rockwork and continued on. Cliff walls began to rise on my right and the trail took its last push towards the lake. There was a large tree to climb over but I was able to squish underneath.
I arrived at the south end of Independence Lake at 1.5 miles and 3710 feet around 9:15am. There were a few campers but otherwise it was a calm morning. There was a crossing over the lake outlet on a tangle of downed logs, they were large and easy to navigate.
I had forgotten how pretty this lake was! The sunlight through the trees created fingers of light through the blue green water and you can see the bottom littered with forest debris in the shallow depths.
It was about .2 miles to walk around the lake to the north side, the whole walk with lovely views down into the teal water. On the other side the trail moved through knee high corn lilies and ferns and there was a sign for the toilet on the left. There were folks camping (as at the south end).
From here is where the real works began! It was up on switchbacks through a meadowed slope, wildflowers everywhere. I could see out across to Devil’s Thumb and Mount Bullen and I was glad it was early before the sun hit here or it would have been HOT. The humidity alone was bad. The trail was in good shape, though and did have a few spots over rock where hands are helpful.
The first patches of snow appeared at 2.4 miles and 4385ft but off trail. The waterfall outlet to the third tarn was in about another quarter mile so I knew I was getting close to that junction. So far I had climbed over a just a few trees, no biggie.
At 2.75 miles, the trail reaches a ridge and goes right. There was a trail to the left but I am assuming it just goes to a viewpoint. There is some small debris on the trail in this area that made it hard to distinguish the trail so keep an eye out you are still on it!
I reached the first tarn at 2.8 miles and the trail went around to the right. The junction for North Lake and the tarns was here. North Lake goes up on a scree field and the tarns are straight ahead. I decided to visit the tarns first, so I kept straight through a large cut log and walked down on a boot path.
Seriously, if you don’t want to push on from here to North Lake, the tarns are a beautiful stop. Last time I was here in the rain and didn’t really appreciate them. The trail is still a bit marshy and has snow patches so expect to get the feet in the mud. But the third tarn has some lovely rocks to sit on and look across the water at Devil’s Thumb.
But I was headed for North Lake ultimately, so I reluctantly left after a snack. Back out on the main trail, I turned up on the rocky trail. The yellow spray paint was still here from last time to mark the way. I was now 3.1 miles in to my trek.
In .1 miles I reached the ridge. There was a side trail to the right (with a downed tree across it) but I continued straight out into the sunlight and onto the ridge contour. I was immediately greeted with a view of Glacier Peak and Mount Pugh! The ridge up to my right was also stunning, maybe that trail to the right takes you up there?
From here the trail followed around the contour on a rocky trail with a few snow patches that are not hard to navigate. The worst part was taking care with my steps as I took in the beauty of the mountains on the horizon and verdant slopes. There was White Chuck, Dome Peak and Bonanza to name a few.
In another .1 miles, the trail had a few more snow patches and it was hard to tell where it dropped down. I could see North Lake down in the distance so I knew this was where the set of switchbacks began. Eventually, I could see the water running underneath the snow down on what appeared to be a trail to the right.
From here, the trail was more like a boot path and scramble over rock slabs and weaving through overgrown foliage. Is that a stream or the trail?? The waterfall flowing out of the tarns here was narrow and sleek, you know you are in the right place when the trail takes you over it. More snow patches and small tarns as I made it down 700 feet to the lake shore, arriving just after 11:30am and at 4125ft just over 4 miles in.
I knew I was going to have to go back up all that in the sun but I had the lake to myself for an hour! The fish were jumping and I was fascinated with watching a log float across from one side to the other. I was tempted with a swim but decided being solo that wasn’t the smartest.
Around 12:30 a party of 3 arrived and that was my sign to head home. I had planned to take that side trail at the ridge junction but I ended up being stung on the way up from the lake and opted to just hike out. Having not been stung in quite a long time, I didn’t want to risk having a bad reaction any further out than I was.
I passed four others on my way back down to Independence Lake and had a nice chat with a fellow PCT hiker who had decided that the switchbacks up from there was his stopping point as his friend continued on to the ridge. Independence had a few more visitors, including some packrafters, and several families were heading in to camp. I even stopped again at Coal Lake to see it in the sun. Three Lakes in less than 8 miles!
There were about 10 more cars parked when I walked out, including two in the pullout near the slide. Maybe they need to put a sign so folks know that makes it easy for turning around and not to park there? Maybe not a big deal for the small cars but a longer one would struggle.
4/2013
It was a long, windy forest road to the trailhead for Independence Lake Trail. The trail is short but I was in search of North Lake which can be a bit confusing. You will come to a spot where there is a wall of scree on your left and it looks like the trail continues straight into the forest (which it does but it only takes you to series of tarns and views of nearby peaks).
The trail actually climbs that scree (at the time there was yellow paint on a rock marking the path). It was a socked in day so I didn’t have much for views. You come out to a ridge above North Lake and it was a scramble down to the shore.
Directions: From the Verlot Public Service Center (11 miles east of Granite Falls), travel east on the Mountain Loop Highway 15.0 miles. Turn left (north) on the Coal Lake Road #4060 (easy to miss, sign is on the right side of the road) and continue 3.8 miles to the trailhead at the end of the road. The road is deeply rutted and narrow in places, expect to have to drive sloooooooow.
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