July Hike of the Month: Seven Lakes Basin in the Trinity Divide Mountains

I spent a glorious day exploring the Seven Lakes Basin on July 2. I love this area: lots of lakes, good swimming, lots of solitude, easy to get to. I did a fair amount of easy cross-country hiking, as the main trail becomes very difficult to follow beyond Upper Seven Lake. If you want to explore the basin, be sure you have good topo maps and are adept at finding your way in the wilderness.

Note: a very few of you may know that Seven Lakes Basin was actually the hike of the month for last September. I’m doing it again because, one, I now have a lot of photos, and two, my blog was only a few weeks old back then and probably less than a half-dozen people actually saw the original post.

Plus this time I saw a bear. And I got a very crappy photo of it. (See that photo and many others below.)

The Seven Lakes Basin journey is Hike 51 from 100 Classic Hikes in Northern California, third edition. I discuss the same route in Hike 65 of 75 Hikes in California’s Mount Shasta and Lassen Volcanic National Park Regions, revised edition. Download the Seven Lakes Basin PDF file for reference.

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Here’s the description of the Seven Lakes Basin from 100 Classic Hikes in Northern California.

Seven Lakes Basin

Length: 6 miles round-trip

Hiking time: 5 hours or 2 days

High point: 6,825 feet

Total elevation gain: 1,400 feet

Difficulty: moderate

Season: early June through late October

Water: available only at Seven Lakes Basin (purify first); bring your own

Maps: USGS 7.5′ Mumbo Basin, USGS 7.5′ Seven Lakes Basin, USFS Mount Shasta Wilderness and Castle Crags Wilderness

Information: Mount Shasta Ranger Station, Shasta-Trinity National Forest

This hike gives you the best of the Klamath Mountains with little effort. You’ll have 360-degree panoramas of far Northern California mountains, cool and clear mountain lakes to dip into, a varied palette of wildflowers, and several excellent campsites if you decide to do an overnighter.

To reach the trailhead, take the Central Mount Shasta exit from Interstate 5. Cross the freeway and go west and south on South Old Stage Road and W. A. Barr Road. Arc around Lake Siskiyou as the way becomes Forest Road 26. Follow this paved road to Gumboot Saddle, 18.3 miles from the freeway and 2.5 miles beyond Gumboot Lake and its campground.

Begin on the saddle’s south side and head south on the Pacific Crest Trail (hikers and equestrians only). You quickly reach an open area with an unimpeded vista of the jagged spires of the Trinity Alps to the west, with forested mountains filling in the northerly and southerly views.

Travel south, undulating gently along the spine of the ridge, occasionally shaded by a Jeffrey pine, western white pine, red fir, or white fir. Note the various flowers, including blue lupines and yellow sulfur flowers.

The first decent campsite appears on the left at 0.3 mile, followed by the inaugural view of Mount Shasta, with Mount Eddy and Gumboot Lake coming shortly thereafter. A westward glance shows Mumbo Lake and Mumbo Basin just below.

A trail fork on a saddle awaits at 2.4 miles and adds new peaks to your day’s checklist. To the near east the granite spires of Castle Crags dominate, with Seven Lakes Basin just below and Boulder Peak rising above Echo Lake. Far to the southeast are Lassen Peak, Magee Peak, and Burney Mountain.

To quickly reach the Seven Lakes Basin, ignore signs and go 30 feet farther on the Pacific Crest Trail. A faint and unmarked path drops down on the right, soon intersecting a four-wheel-drive road that you follow down to Upper Seven Lake, a total 0.5 mile distance. The lake’s waters invite you to swim, but two campsites by the water are too close, so explore farther from shore for a level spot. Lower Seven Lake lies 100 yards to the south but has no campsites.

You can hike cross-country to explore the basin. The actual trail fades as it runs east toward Echo Lake. Do not attempt to visit this lake: It’s privately owned, and the owner is notoriously cranky and very hostile to visitors.

Upper Seven Lake and the north side of the Seven Lakes Basin. The Pacific Crest Trail runs high along the ridge. (Photo by John Soares)

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Upper Seven Lake’s attractive north shore. (Photo by John Soares)

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Western white pines and red firs on the north shore of Upper Seven Lake. (Photo by John Soares)

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View of Upper Seven Lake from the south shore. I went swimming into the clear and cool (but not cold) water from right here. (Photo by John Soares)

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Logs in the water near the south shore of Upper Seven Lake. (Photo by John Soares)

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Lower Seven Lake, Boulder Peak, and the southern portion of Seven Lakes Basin. (Photo by John Soares)

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Lower Seven Lake viewed from the Pacific Crest Trail. (Photo by John Soares)

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Unnamed lake and Boulder Peak in the Seven Lakes Basin. (Photo by John Soares)

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Cinnamon-colored black bear in the Seven Lakes Basin. (Photo by John Soares)

’bout the bear. I surprised it near a meadow while walking cross-country. It ran about a 100 feet away and stopped, so I pulled out my camera and took a few pics. Unfortunately this was the best shot. Why? For starters, I had a polarizing filter on my zoom lens, which meant I was shooting at 1/15 of a second. Also, the sun was directly behind the bear. I’ve been trying to get a decent picture of a bear for twenty years. I’ve seen ‘em probably 20-30 times, but either I don’t have a camera or they split before I get my camera out.

Tagged as: backpacking, black bears, Boulder Peak, Castle Crags, Echo Lake, Gumboot Lake, hikes, hiking, Lower Seven Lake, Mumbo Basin, Mumbo Lake, Pacific Crest Trail, seven lakes basin, trails, Trinity Divide, Trinity Divide Mountains, Upper Seven Lake