Hiking Trinity Divide Trails: Cliff Lakes and the Pacific Crest Trail

My sweetheart Stephanie and I spent the Memorial Day weekend camping and hiking in the Trinity Divide mountains just west of Mount Shasta, including the Cliff Lakes and the Pacific Crest Trail.

What Are the Trinity Divide Mountains?

What’s the Trinity Divide? It’s a range of mountains that stretches from Shasta Bally west of Redding to China Peak just north of Mount Eddy. It’s located west of Interstate 5 and includes some of my favorite country: Castle Crags, Seven Lakes Basin, Mount Eddy, the Deadfall Lakes, and a very scenic stretch of the Pacific Crest Trail. And the Trinity Divide has a lot of hiking trails, and I cover all the good ones in my guidebook Day Hiking: Mount Shasta, Lassen & Trinity Alps Regions.

Waters on the west side of Trinity Divide flow into the Trinity River. Waters on the northeast side flow into the Shasta River and then the Klamath River, while waters on the southeast side flow into the Sacramento River.

Hiking to Lower Cliff Lake and Middle Cliff Lake

Friday afternoon we headed to Lower Cliff Lake and Middle Cliff Lake. Too cold to swim, but warm enough to wear shorts.

Gumboot Saddle and Gumboot Lake

We did dispersed camping for two nights on the ridge near Gumboot Saddle within spitting distance of the Pacific Crest Trail. The next day we hiked north from our campsite on the Pacific Crest Trail, with Trinity Alps vistas.

Your Take

Have you been to these lakes or hiked elsewhere in the Trinity Divide? What are your favorite places?

Subscribe to the Northern California Hiking Trails Blog

Share on Facebook

Tweet

Follow us