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The title of this post should be, “Rock Lake, I hiked there so you don’t have too”. Rock Lake is one of the lakes in the north Alpine Lakes Wilderness and is one of a couple of lakes named “Rock Lake” in the region. WTA.org’s website shows a Rock Lake but the trailhead and route don’t match the hike I did although it seems like people’s reviews reflect the hike I did rather than WTA’s information. WTA doesn’t show a trailhead for this lake and, in truth, there really isn’t one.
No matter though, most of you won’t want to do this hike regardless how ridiculously beautiful the lake is. The trailhead is unmarked but basically you park at the end of the road and then hunt for an opening in the foliage. This is the trail. Within 20 feet of the road you start straight up a ridge on what is colloquially known as a “fisherman’s trail”, which basically means enough people went up the hill that eventually a sort of trail has emerged over time. This is no groomed trail though. It’s just straight up the ridge with about 1,500 feet of elevation gain in a little over a mile to the top of a knob and then you plunge 700 feet down the other side to the lake. It’s a short hike at just over 2 miles each way but, man, do you get a workout in. This is not a hike you want to do in the rain because I can’t imagine how hard it would be to hike up the trail. Especially on the backside it’s easy to lose the trail as it’s not well marked.
What about the lake though? The lake is wonderful. It’s not a huge lake but is surrounded by towering cliffs and has it’s own private island. You can swim out to the island but since I don’t swim I won’t be joining you. It looks like fun though. There are some campsites but most are in the same area so if there are others already there you’ll have to make friends. I went up on a Friday afternoon and there were four or five tents set up and it appeared like they had been there a couple of days, which honestly if you’re going to go to the work of trekking up the mountain, you might as well enjoy it.
