We headed to Summit Lake in Lassen National Park to hike the Cluster Lakes and Twin Lakes Loop Hike, 10.8 miles with 1,385 ft overall elevation gain. The trail starts on the east side of Summit Lake.
The trail from Summit Lake reaches the loop in about 1 mile. Here we had a view of Lassen Peak. We choose to hike the loop clockwise toward Cluster Lakes first. We would pass a dozen lakes/ponds.
The trail passes very close to these lakes.
a large pond on the way to Little Bear Lake
the pond on the way to Little Bear Lake
The northern part of this trail passes through a large old burn area.
Little Bear Lake
Big Bear Lake
lunch break at Big Bear Lake
An unnamed Cluster Lake, on an offshoot trail.
Silver Lake with Lassen Peak in the background
Feather Lake
pond along the trail
another pond along the trail
Another break along Lower Twin Lake
Lower Twin Lake
Upper Twin Lake
love the color in the water as the sun comes out behind a cloud
another pond along the trail
and another pond
Echo Lake
This was a great hike for lakes and ponds, we also saw many deer today.
After leaving the loop and returning on the trail to Summit Lake, view of Lassen Peak
back at Summit Lake with a great view of Lassen Peak
Drove up to the Carbon River Entrance of Mt Rainier National Park to hike up to Ipsut Falls (10.8 miles round trip with 800 ft of gain). This past winter the Carbon River eroded a section of the road before the entrance to less than 1/2 a lane. Parking is now along both sides of the road before this section.
The first 5 miles to Ipsut Campground is along the now defunct Carbon River Road, with a section washed away some years ago. This trail is in the temperate rainforest, so there is lots of lovely moss, ferns and tall trees.
About a mile up the road, we saw some ghost pipe
and some thimbleberries that were not quite ripe.
About 3 miles up the road, there is a nice view looking up the Carbon River, the river is flowing fast, and we could here the rocks tumbling under the water.
Where the road was washed away some years ago, some hikers have placed boards across this side tributary of the Carbon River, there is a higher board crossing a bit upstream leading back to the road/trail. On the way up, we opted to go through the woods, off trail, rather than cross these boards. Coming back, I did cross on the boards and they felt steady then.
Another spot along the road where we could see the Carbon River.
some fireweed in bloom
Just before Ipsut Campground, the road had been washed away and we crossed on this bridge.
The old ranger cabin at Ipsut Campground. In the past, before the Carbon River had taken out portions of the road, this had been a front country campground, so there are picnic tables and bear boxes at the campsites.
After walking through the campground, it is a short 0.3 miles to see Ipsut Falls, there are several bridges along this short section.
some tall pine drops
large patch of twinflowers covering the forest floor like a carpet
This last bridge on the way to Ipsut Falls had a lot of bounce to it!
Ipsut Creek, the falls are in the distance
Wasn't able to get close to the falls, as the shoreline narrows and has lots of boulders. We took a lunch break along this pretty pool.
The short (300 ft) turn off to Ipsut Falls was only 0.1 mile from this section of the Wonderland Trail, where I had hiked 2 summers ago. I couldn't resist hiking up and "connecting" to this part of the trail before returning to the car.
