Lake Caroline
Challenging and often overlooked, follow this trail up through recent burn to parklands and hidden alpine lakes.
Total Distance: 9.6 miles
Total Ascent: 2600ft (2500ft in; 100ft out)
Highest Point: 6300ft
Total Ascent: 2600ft (2500ft in; 100ft out)
Highest Point: 6300ft
Take US 2 to Leavenworth. Just before you enter town, take a right onto Icicle Creek Road (FR 76). Follow Icicle Creek Road for 8.4 miles to Eightmile Road (aka FR 7601). Turn left and follow the gravel road over Icicle Creek for about 2.9 miles to the Eightmile Lake Trailhead. Privy available. View Google Directions >>
From the parking area, follow the Eightmile Lake Trail #1552 as it traces a path alongside Eightmile Creek. Keep left when you encounter an abandoned logging road at the 1.0 mile mark and cross the log bridge spanning Pioneer Creek soon after.
Navigate your way up a few mild switchbacks and through a couple of talus fields to reach Little Eightmile Lake at 2.8 miles. Once you’ve taken a moment to consider the lake, find the signed junction for the Eightmile-Trout Creek Trail #1554. Eightmile Lake and good campsites are just another .5 mile further along the main trail, but if Lake Caroline is your destination, the work has only just begun.
From the junction being a steep ascent up the brushy and exposed trail. Find little respite from the heat as you climb up trail that switchbacks relentlessly up from the valley offering ever-increasing views of Little Eightmile Lake, Eightmile Lake and Dragontail Peak.
After almost 3 miles of climbing the trail levels out as you approach Lake Caroline, ultimately cresting the ridge that acts as a rim to the wooded bowl the lake sits in. Continue another .25 down to the lakeshore and find a quiet spot to enjoy a solitude that is sometimes difficult to find in The Enchantments. There's a lot more to Lake Caroline, and you can learn all about it in Alpine Lakes Wilderness: The Complete Hiking Guide. You'll find a trail map, route descriptions, history, and more for this and many other hikes throughout the State. Help support hikingwithmybrother.com and the work we do by picking up a copy!
Navigate your way up a few mild switchbacks and through a couple of talus fields to reach Little Eightmile Lake at 2.8 miles. Once you’ve taken a moment to consider the lake, find the signed junction for the Eightmile-Trout Creek Trail #1554. Eightmile Lake and good campsites are just another .5 mile further along the main trail, but if Lake Caroline is your destination, the work has only just begun.
From the junction being a steep ascent up the brushy and exposed trail. Find little respite from the heat as you climb up trail that switchbacks relentlessly up from the valley offering ever-increasing views of Little Eightmile Lake, Eightmile Lake and Dragontail Peak.
After almost 3 miles of climbing the trail levels out as you approach Lake Caroline, ultimately cresting the ridge that acts as a rim to the wooded bowl the lake sits in. Continue another .25 down to the lakeshore and find a quiet spot to enjoy a solitude that is sometimes difficult to find in The Enchantments. There's a lot more to Lake Caroline, and you can learn all about it in Alpine Lakes Wilderness: The Complete Hiking Guide. You'll find a trail map, route descriptions, history, and more for this and many other hikes throughout the State. Help support hikingwithmybrother.com and the work we do by picking up a copy!
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