Pickle Jar Lakes

The Pickle Jar Lakes are a scenic set of lakes nestled in a high alpine valley that is surprisingly easy to get to. A great hike for beginners or hikers that don't want to strain themselves too much. Unfortunately the ease of access and the allowed over night camping does tend to attract the crowds so it's not a great hike if you're looking for some peace and solitude.

The parking lot is about 50m south of the trailhead along Highway 40. The path will immediately begin to climb but the rate at which you gain elevation is very manageable. While the trail will follow a path basically parallel to a mountain creek in the valley floor you won't be able to see it or get too close to it.

After a couple kilometers the trail will turn to the north and the you'll encounter the most significant climb of the trail. It's short but steep with poor traction. In the rain it could be a bit slippery. Once at the top the trail will turn to your right and ascend some more along a ridge through some trees. You'll encounter a rockband that can be scrambled over easily as the first lake comes into view.

Backcountry camping is allowed around the lakes so you may see several tents. Beyond the first lake you'll find three more lakes. The further back you go, the more alone you'll become as a surprising number of hikers simply stop at the first lake. Even though we passed dozens of hikers on the trail we only encountered a handful at the last lake where we stopped for lunch. The last lake has the soft shorelines with plenty of mossy ground to sit on so I can't figure out why anyone would site on the scree covered shores of the second lake.

If you download the attached GPS track and plan to use it as a route, note that we did leave the trail on several occassions to hunt geocaches. If you have no interest in the geocaching simply stay on the trail when the track appears to depart from it as strange angles. The true hike length is probably a couple kilometers less than the track would indicate as we took a significant detour at the end across the highway to find another geocache.

On our way out we encountered a group in their early 20s lugging a packed cooler, overloaded packs and all with Big Gulps in their hands. The trail really is that easy but that's also an example of who you can expect to be sharing this trail with. However we did choose the trail because it was a hike my mother, whom is not an adept hiker, would be able to join us on.

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GPS Track (.gpx)