Lake Wapiki Hike
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
- Start point: Lemei Trailhead
- End Point: Lake Wapiki
- Distance: 7.0 miles
- Hike type: In and out
- Elevation gain: 1625 feet
- High Point: 5241 feet
- Difficulty: Moderate
- Seasons: Summer into Fall
- Family Friendly: Yes, for older kids
- Backpackable: Yes
- Crowded: On summer weekends
Contents |
Hike Description
The Lemei Trail rises gradually up the east slope of Lemei Rock, one of Indian Heaven’s several Pleistocene shield volcanoes. Nestled in Lemei Rock’s old crater is Lake Wapiki, a glassy expanse that invites a dip and explorations of its satellite tarns and heather meadows. Huckleberries form the understory almost every step of the way, and the best time to visit is late August into September, when the clouds of Wapiki’s voracious mosquitoes have waned and the berries are ripe for the plucking.
Cross the road and fill out a wilderness permit at the trailhead. The trail has a gentle incline on the bed of an old forest road. The forest here is composed of medium-sized Douglas-fir, western hemlock, red-cedar, silver fir, and an unusual number of western white pines. Pass a spring right on the trail and rise into the mountain hemlock zone. About a mile into the hike, in a western white pine clearing, you pass the Lemei-Filloon Trail Junction. The Filloon Trail #102 is about a mile long and leads to the Little Goose Campground and Horse Camp.
Enter the Indian Heaven Wilderness, drop a little before rising past a substantial Douglas-fir, and then switchback twice up a slope. Switchback again and then hike on the level through a small boggy area with white rhododendrons. The trail continues up in mountain hemlock, silver fir, and noble fir forest and veers left at the old junction to reach the new (2017) Lemei-Wapiki Lake Trail Junction, three miles from the trailhead.
The 0.4 mile spur heads up to Lake Wapiki through thickets of huckleberry and white rhododendron. There is no trail all around the lake, but paths lead to campsites on the first peninsula and others at the lake’s west shore. A couple of tarns are fringed with meadows blooming red and white heather, avalanche lilies, cinquefoil, and paintbrush in late July/early August. Bog blueberries will ripen in late summer. Just south of Lake Wapiki is the secluded pond of Little Wapiki. Above the lake, you can see the almost bare cinder slope of the crater traversed by the Lemei Trail as it continues to the interior of Indian Heaven (see the Lemei Rock via Lemei Trail Hike).
Maps
- Maps: Hike Finder
- Green Trails: Mt. Adams West, WA No. 366 and Lone Butte, WA No. 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.
- Self-issued wilderness permit at trailhead
- $2 toll bridge each way at Hood River
Trip Reports
- Search Trip Reports for Lake Wapiki Hike
- Lake Wapiki
- Indian Heaven - Lemei Trail - 9/28/2020
- Indian Heaven (Wapiki Lake area) 6/1/20
- Lemei Rock & Lake Wapiki Sept 30 (!!)
- Lake Wapiki
- Indian Heaven: Lemei Rock – Wapiki Lk.– Bird Mt. 10-05-2014
- Wapiki Lake and Lemei Rocks
- Indian Heaven's Lemei Rock and Lake Wapiki 9/20/14
- Wapiki Lake and Lemei Rock, Indian Heaven
- Wapiki Lake
- Lake Wapiki
- Indian Heaven - Lemei Rock and Wapiki Lake 7/24
- Indian Heaven - Lemei Rock and Wapiki Lake
- Lake Wapiki
- Wapiki Lake
- Lake Wapiki, Indian Heaven Wilderness 7.7.09
Related Discussions / Q&A
- Search Trail Q&A for Lake Wapiki Hike
Guidebooks that cover this destination
- Day Hiking Mount Adams and Goat Rocks by Tami Asars
- Hiking Washington's Mount Adams Country by Fred Barstad
- Washington's South Cascades' Volcanic Landscapes by Marge and Ted Mueller
- 95 Virtual Hikes of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and the Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument by Northwest Hiker
- 33 Hiking Trails: Southern Washington Cascades by Don & Roberta Lowe
- Exploring Washington's Wild Areas by Marge & Ted Mueller
- Indian Heaven Back Country by Mel Hansen
- Washington's Columbia River Gorge: Camping & Hiking by Tom Stienstra & Scott Leonard
- Washington Hiking by Scott Leonard
- Pacific Northwest Hiking by Scott Leonard & Megan McMorris
More Links
- Trail #34 Lemei (USFS)
- Trail #34A Wapiki Lake (USFS)
- Wapiki Lake Hike (Northwest Hiker)
- Lemei Rock and Wapiki Lake (Dean Myerson)
- Wapiki Lake Indian Heaven Wilderness (Went Hiking)
Page Contributors
- bobcat (creator)