3.8 hr
Overview
The rough and rutted road to the North Burnt Lake Trailhead never deterred the throngs of day hikers and weekend backpackers that head up the Burnt Lake Trail. The road was repaired and graveled over in 2015; thus expect even very low clearance vehicles to make it to the trailhead these days. Overnighters at Burnt Lake need to camp in one of the designated sites as the lake shores have seen much traffic: restoration is underway, so avoid sensitive areas. The trailhead is accessible early in the season, but the bowl wherein Burnt Lake nestles holds snow until much later, which means route finding can become an issue, especially if you plan to continue up to East Zigzag Mountain. This is an excellent hike for forest wildflowers in June/July. Burnt Lake is named after a 1904 forest fire. An even larger blaze, accidentally started by a local homesteader in 1906, scorched a wider area around the lake. In those days, the forest understory was more open, but most of the big trees remaining were killed by the 1906 fire. The Burnt Lake Trail #772 begins wide and gentle on an old road track in a lush forest that was burned over in the late 19th century. Start to the right of the trail sign, where you pass through a stile. The principal tree cover here is Douglas-fir, western hemlock, silver fir and vine maple. Review the map board and sign in at the wilderness permit box. Burnt Lake Creek runs down to the right and is shaded by red-cedar. Large, scorched stumps, mainly cedars, are all that remain of the magnificent old-growth forest. Lady fern, devil's club, sword fern, starry solomon plume, oxalis, and bunchberry form a lush groundcover. Gradually ascend. A spur to the right leads down to a tributary of Burnt Lake Creek. Cross the creek after this and round another large cedar snag. Then, cross several small creeks using plank walks. Another spur to the left leads down into the Lost Creek valley for views from the top of multi-tiered Lost Creek Falls and a campsite. To get a head-on view of the falls requires more of
Trail Stats
10.6 km
433 m
1250 m
0 m
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Photos
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