Acker Lake Loop Hike
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
- Start point: Thomas Lake Trailhead
- End point: Bear Lake
- Trail Log: Trail Log
- Hike Type: Lollipop loop
- Distance: 10.1 miles
- Elevation gain: 1240 feet
- High Point: 4,915 feet
- Difficulty: Moderate
- Seasons: Aug-Nov
- Family Friendly: No
- Backpackable: Yes
- Crowded: On the Thomas Lake Trail
Contents |
Hike Description
This hike explores an old section of the Cascade Crest Trail, the predecessor of the Pacific Crest Trail in Washington. To gain access, you'll be using the popular Thomas Lake Trail, and the loop will visit many of Indian Heaven's named lakes. The Cascade Crest Trail section, however, will take you on a secluded journey through a series of mountain meadows before you loop back on the Pacific Crest Trail around the slopes of East Crater.
At the trailhead, there’s a wilderness permit station and a boot brush. There’s also a map which shows the locations of designated campsites in the areas of Thomas Lake, Eunice Lake, and Blue Lake.
This well-traveled trail ascends a series of erosion steps in secondary woodland. As you get higher, you can look back to get a partial view of Mount Saint Helens. Soon, however, you’ll enter montane forest with a canopy of mountain hemlock, silver fir, and noble fir. The trail switchbacks and proceeds on the level through an open huckleberry understory. Soon after passing the wilderness sign, you’ll see Dee Lake on your left. A trail to the right leads to designated campsites around Thomas Lake, a large body of water that stretches south from trail. (See the Thomas Lake Hike for a description of the loop leading around Thomas Lake.) Heather Lake soon appears on your left, and a footbridge takes you across the little draw that connects it with Thomas Lake. Continue on the Thomas Lake Trail after passing a sign for the designated campsites on the east shore of Thomas Lake.
The trail soon reaches the Thomas Lake-Eunice Lake Trail Junction at the base of a slope. Bear left to visit Eunice Lake, passing a small tarn on the left. Eunice Lake is a quiet lake nestled below a mossy talus slope in deep forest. Return to the main trail, and wind up to switchback and reach the top of a rise. The trail levels, and you’ll get a glimpse left to the snowy summit of Mount Rainier. After crossing an extended turnpike, you’ll see a user trail leading left for a view to Mount Saint Helens and down to Eunice Lake through the trees. Pass across a typical Indian Heaven meadow, where blueberry clumps turn crimson in the fall. Cross a couple of boardwalks to reenter the forest. A creek runs to the left of the trail, which soon begins to rise. After you see a small lake off to the left, look for a path leading up to the right and then steeply down to rarely-visited Brader Lake. There’s a single backcountry campsite on the peninsula that juts into Brader Lake.
The trail keeps rising, and a spur leads right to a small, unnamed lake. Switchback at a talus slope, and ascend more steeply to switchback again to get a fuller view of Mount Rainier. The trails then winds gradually down past Naha Lake on the right. The burned slopes of East Crater loom ahead as you enter an open meadow to reach a multi-signed junction. Here, the Thomas Lake Trail makes a sharp right, while the section of the old Cascade Crest Trail you need heads off to the north. First, however, keep straight to visit picturesque Rock Lake in its open meadow.
Return to the junction, and head north on the old alignment of the Cascade Crest Trail. The route is faint in the first meadow, but pretty obvious from there on. You’ll drop through a thin forest, filled with huckleberries. The trail here has been quite eroded by runoff, and you’ll need watch for rocks in the tread. Soon the trail drops into a large meadow with a weaving creek. When the creek dries in the late summer, the creekbed becomes a long, irregular pond through the meadow. The path here is clear, but even so, it’s marked with aging yellow poles. The trail continues northward for 1.8 miles through several beautiful meadows. You’ll see a few sections of braided trail, and it seems obvious that Forest Service moved the trail to protect these fragile meadows from further damage. Reach the unmarked Chenamus Lake-Cascade Crest Trail Junction, and keep right to cross a rocky creek bed and pass across another opening into montane woods. The trail rises to Acker Lake on the left and a small lake on the right. Just north of Acker Lake, there’s a trail junction marked with a red board nailed to a tree. Take the right fork and leave the old Cascade Crest Trail here. Head up a steep path for about 1/10 of a mile to the crest of the ridge. At the top, you’ll be overlooking Bear Lake from the Elk Lake Trail. There’s a use path down to shore of the lake, and it's a short distance east to the Pacific Crest Trail. (For the 0.8 mile round-trip excursion to Elk Lake, see the Elk Lake Add-on Hike.)
When you’ve finished admiring Bear Lake, head east (uphill) on the Elk Lake Trail for a short distance to the Pacific Crest Trail. Turn right and head south. The modern PCT is a much better and faster trail than the old CCT. On the other hand, a lot has been sacrificed in views to preserve the meadows below. The trail drops, and you'll see Acker Lake down to your right through the trees. Soon, you'll encounter the north fork of Rush Creek: below the trail, there's a pretty three-tiered waterfall, but you'll have to bushwhack through huckleberries to see it. Next, there's a rock-hopping crossing of the tumbling middle fork of Rush Creek above small meadows before the trail traverses a slope forest of silver fir. You'll emerge from the forest at the meadows around Junction Lake, and stay right at the Pacific Crest-Lemei Lake Trail Junction.
Head south on the Pacific Crest Trail, crossing a footbridge over the south fork of Rush Creek and passing the unmarked junction with the old route of the Pacific Crest Trail on the right. Junction Lake, a meeting point of several trails, glistens to your left. Hike into a montane slope forest, passing the Pacific Crest-East Crater Trail Junction. The PCT traverses the west slope of East Crater. At a break in the trees, you’ll catch a glimpse of Sawtooth Mountain to the north and then later of Mount Saint Helens. Note also some large mountain hemlocks and noble firs. The trail begins to drop along the edge of the 2017 East Crater Burn, where bear-grass and false hellebore bloom in the summer. The PCT then switchbacks to leave the burn area and wind down a slope where several conifers were toppled in a September 2020 windstorm. Soon, you’ll see Blue Lake and come to the junction with the Thomas Lake Trail.
From the Pacific Crest-Thomas Lake Trail Junction, hike west on the Thomas Lake Trail above the shore of Blue Lake. The rugged north face of Gifford Peak looms above the lake, and short spur trails lead to the shore. The trail rises to reach Lake Sahalee Tyee on the right, where a spur leads to the only designated campsite. Past this lake, the trail continues to rise, with a gully on the right, to cross a creek at the head of the gully. Pass a linear meadow and then a tarn. At the tarn, you’ll see the former route of the Pacific Crest Trail heading north. Next, on your left you’ll pass a couple of shallow lakes. Just beyond the screen of trees behind these two lakes is Lake Umtux. The Thomas Lake Trail crosses a couple of rock-filled creeks to enter a meadow and reach the Thomas Lake-Rock Lake-Cascade Crest Trail Junction and close the loop. Turn left here to return to the trailhead.
Maps
- Maps: Hike Finder
- Note that the CCT section is not shown on some of these maps:
- Green Trails Maps: Wind River, WA #397 and Lone Butte, WA #365
- Indian Heaven (USFS)
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service: Mt. Adams Wilderness, Indian Heaven Wilderness, Trapper Creek Wilderness
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service: Mt. Adams Ranger District
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service: Gifford Pinchot National Forest
- National Geographic Trails Illustrated Map: Mount St. Helens - Mt. Adams
Fees, Regulations, etc.
- Northwest Forest Pass required
- Self-issued wilderness permit
- Outhouse, picnic table, boot brush at trailhead
- $3 toll at Bridge of the Gods each way
- Near Thomas Lake, Blue Lake, Bear Lake, and Tombstone Lake, camp at designated sites only
Trip Reports
- Search Trip Reports for Acker Lake
Related Discussions / Q&A
- Search Trail Q&A for Acker Lake
Guidebooks that cover this hike
- Indian Heaven Back Country by Mel Hansen
- Hiking the Gifford Pinchot Backcountry by the Columbia Group Sierra Club
More Links
- Trail #111 Thomas Lake (USFS)
- Trail #2000 Pacific Crest, Mt. Adams area (USFS)
- Blue Lake, Deep Lake, and Elk Lake Loop (All Trails) (longer variation)
- Wilderness: Indian Heaven (USFS)
Contributors
- Stevefromdodge (creator)