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With the rainy season upon us I was on the lookout for less exposed hikes that might offer some level of cover should a lightning storm crop up. As luck would have it the winter road closure of Highwood Pass ended today so I decided to make a lower level wander to Picklejar Lakes. It's a 1 hour 45 minute drive from home to the car park at Lantern Creek off highway 40.
It's important for anyone thinking of undertaking this hike that you park at Lantern Creek NOT Picklejar Creek parking lot as you might think. Lantern Creek is 21km south of Highwood Pass. Unless you are very early on a weekday, don't expect to have this trail to yourself, it is very popular. If you just do the lakes and back on the usual trail it will be 9km and 450m of ascent, my additional distance and ascent came from an extended return.
The trailhead is on the opposite side of the road to the parking lot just a few metres north on the left bank of Lantern Creek, you can see it trodden into the grassy bank and turning toward the forest in the shot below.
It's a narrow trail considering its popularity, though today I believe I am the first person of the season. The road has only opened this morning and the wet ground has no footprints at all, the car park is empty and weeds are sprouting (untrodden) all along the trail.
The trail is very easy going with long steady ascents for the most part, it's a nice easy start to the day. Directly ahead as I ascend the side of the valley is Lineham Ridge currently shrouded in low cloud though there is no rain as yet.
The vegetation here is lush and its little surprise that it is 'bear country'. On the drive in this morning I saw a park ranger encouraging a large Grizzly off the highway with his truck. Soon after the grizz I saw a small black bear scurrying up a bank back to the forest his route across the highway blocked by winnebagos lining the shoulder hoping for a glimpse of a bear. Then before Lantern Creek car park I saw another Grizzly (or his butt at least) disappearing into the forest. I'm not sure if bears eat 'Indian Paintbrushes' but there are plenty of them on this trial.
I have a bear banger firmly fixed in it's launch tool and positioned at the front of my shoulder straps, I've also checked my can of bear spray at least 5 times since I set out. It's likely that the bears have been milling around the road for months, but now it's reopened after the winter break they find themselves surprised by traffic for a few days until they relearn about roads. It does show just how many there are milling around and is a good reminder of how wild this place really is.
The narrow trail surrounded by forest meanders along up and down the valley, it's often very wet and marshy and there's plenty of deadfall to clamber over/around. The wet forest brushes against me repeatedly in the early stages and I'm actually beginning to think of putting on my waterproof jacket for a while until I begin ascending into more open space.
The only really noticeable ascent comes toward the very end of the trial where a steep slippery bank lifts me quickly out of the trees and into open space. The cloud has lifted a little and it is noticeably brighter than earlier, I've still not actually had any rain.
Soon after the final steep ascent I round a rocky outcrop and get the opening view of the first of the four Picklejar Lakes and the snow dusted peaks of the highwood range behind them still tipped with low cloud.
Before I make the descent to the lakes I make use of a nice little rock pinnacle on the end of the ridge providing a view along the valley to the north which meets the Picklejar Recreation Area 2.5km away.
The descent to the lakes is no longer the 'tourist route' I expected, huge washouts have eliminated the trail for almost all of the descent leaving some challenging slopes with loose scree and soil underfoot, I'm sure after a few dozen folks have walked in a new trail will take shape, maybe even the one I just made plodding a steady diagonal descent.
I walk along the southern shore of the first lake until I hear a waterfall in the undergrowth and follow the sound until I find this shallow fast moving connecting creek making all the noise.
I head back to the boulder slope at the west end of the first lake and follow it onward to the second lake which is much deeper than the first and has a much richer colour as a result, there are even fish topping here.
I take to the boulder slope again and head around the southern end of the second lake, as a very welcome hint of blue sky appears over the highwood range opposite
There is a nice little alpine meadow on the top of a ridge that separates what I thought was the second lake, from what I thought was the third, the sky continues to clear as I make my way along the short ridge.
When I get to the end of the ridge it turns out that this is the last lake in the chain...somehow I've missed one. The fourth lakes is a very shallow muddy pool with a large wetland area between it and the cirque that provides the water for the chain of lakes.
I take to the boulder slope and climb higher in an attempt to locate the 'missing' lake, from here the beautiful rich colour of the second (or third) lake is made apparent by the contrast with the muddy shallows of the fourth.
With no success visually it's apparent that the only place another lake could be hiding is to the north of the chain where a forested area sits in the shadow of the highwood range. I decide to walk around that side on the way back.
Sure enough after walking a short way through the forest I find the 'missing' lake totally surrounded by trees and incredibly well hidden considering its size, the trees keep the breeze away allowing for a nice reflection on the calm waters.
The western end of this lake actually feeds down to the small waterfall I'd sought out earlier, had I continued upstream I would have found this little outlet and the lake beyond.
Climbing the muddy slopes to the ridgetop I look back at the first lake again, this time bathed in sunshine which has already melted away some of the remaining snow from the twisted rock formations in the Highwood Range
As the skies are clearing I decide to do the balancing act on the ridge pinnacle once more, the clouds are really opening up and blue skies fill the horizon in every direction now.
The good weather leaves me feeling robbed, if I'd known how nice it would be out here I would have gone for a summit today. I decided to scramble the ridge a little way and see what the views were like a couple of hundred metres higher. Initially the ridge is all loose talus and scree but it feels good to be climbing higher.
The ridge turns to a nice grassy top which provides the very best of spots for a break and a bite to eat, it's actually quite a good vantage point and high enough to see some distance north.
My ascent is cut short by the realisation that this lump isn't connected to the north end of Lineham Ridge as I had hoped, it has a large break between it and the very pointed looking ridge beyond.
From up here I can see the valley I had walked through to get here and occasionally, through the trees I see a glimpse of the trail, to my left (south) is a grassy hill leading in that direction and I decide to take on a steep scree/talus slope to reach it in order to make a small circuit back to the trail.
The talus is actually well held in place by wild flowers and grasses dotted all through the sharp rock pieces, the sky has begun to fill in again and I get a step on to avoid hitting a steep grassy slope when it's wet.
As I make my way back I look over the edge of the slope and see a nice little beaver dam and holt, the creek providing water is actually a way off (top of shot) but the beaver has diverted a small stream to make his own habitat with a significant dam construction against the grassy slopes.
Back at the car park the "security guards" are still standing around keeping an eye on vehicles, there are dozens of columbia ground squirrels here providing entertainment by chasing each other and squeaking about it as I sit on the tailgate taking off my boots.
Whilst I would agree Picklejar Lakes is an nice steady hike to some lovely pools tucked away in the mountains I'm not really sure how it became so popular, it's a long drive to get here (from anywhere) and has restricted views almost all the way to the ridge before the lakes. Maybe it's just the fact that there are a few pools rather than one, the hike is easy and it feels remote.
Perhaps I expected more of the place because of the reputation but it was a great day in the hills and I'm really glad I came because now I have found a new ridge to climb and some more scrambling to enjoy.
