The Caribou Lakes area is one of the finest regions of the Trinity Alps with fantastic scenery and beautiful alpine lakes. The trailhead is at the end of a long and slow gravel road that is quite rocky in spots; passable in low-clearance sedans but caution must be exercised. The extra effort required to reach the trailhead makes the Caribou Lakes area less popular than Canyon Creek Lakes, but in my opinion the trail-accessible terrain is more scenic. However, on Labor Day Monday there were many backpackers departing the lakes as we were arriving so this region is not undiscovered. Lucky for us, everybody was leaving so we had the entire basin to ourselves by the time we arrived. There are two trails that access Caribou Lakes: the Old Caribou Trail and the New Caribou Trail. In general, the New Caribou Trail is significantly longer but contains a very gradual grade largely traversing the mountainside. In contrast, the Old Caribou Trail is more direct, but steeper and contains more elevation gain reaching a high point that is only a few hundred feet short of Caribou Mountain’s summit. Overall, both trails are worthwhile and make for an excellent figure-8 loop to visit the basin. On the way in we took the New Caribou Trail and on the way out the Old Caribou Trail.
Caribou Lakes and Snowslide Lake are situated in a spectacular granite bowl underneath Caribou Mountain. All of the lakes look very inviting for a swim on a warm day (a cool breeze kept us out of the water on this day). Upper Caribou Lake is the largest lake in the Trinity Alps and is particularly scenic with an amphitheater of white granite surrounding its eastern shore. From Upper Caribou Lake we continued up a less-used path to a small notch along Sawtooth Ridge. From here, we continued along the ridge crest west to a rock outcropping that we scrambled. This point features a stupendous view into the heart of the rugged Trinity Alps including Sawtooth Peak, Caesar Peak, Thompson Peak and the Stuart Fork Canyon. We could see Emerald Lake, Sapphire Lake and Mirror Lake on one side of the ridge and the Caribou Lakes on the other. A magical panorama! On the way back we enjoyed an extremely pleasant walk through the Caribou Lakes basin and then took the steep climb of the Old Caribou Trail to Point 8,118 ft. This point features a magnificent view of the Trinity Alps and Caribou Lakes basin. The Caribou Lakes area far exceeding my expectations and is a real gem. Strava GPS route here.
Leor Pantilat's Adventures
That panorama with Emerald, Sapphire and the Caribous is just badass.