Senior Hiking #364 Beehive Lakes Trail

70° HAZY

Aug 2, 2010…Beehive Lakes Tr #279…
hike # 364
by Betsy

This is another one of those long and steep hikes and again plans changed as we drove out of the driveway. Don’t ask. The plan we decided on the night before was Schafer Peak but Beehive Lake is also a good hike, in spite of its steepness and numerous switchbacks. I like this trail a lot because it is so varied and it does not have all the loose rock and shale that Harrison Lake and other Selkirk Mt hikes have.

The trail starts out with just a normal incline and then gets much steeper, especially the first half. All the creeks which are impossible to cross in the spring are now just a hop, skip and a jump. When we hit the huge span of steep granite, we had no trouble…it is easy to get lost in spite of the numerous “ducks” marking the trail but we had no trouble having done this hike a gazillion times in the past.

The air was extremely hazy which was a blessing today since this is usually a very sunny and very hot hike. Lots of bear grass in bloom and many wildflowers. This huckleberry laden trail is now full of tiny green berries, just ready to explode in just a matter of weeks. And picking and popping them always make this hike worth it. But alas we were too early for that in early August at this elevation.

We tried for the ridge to head over and down to Little Harrison Lake but we never seem to be able to find the right route. So much brush and so many boulders, and that we have been up there so many times before didn’t help today so just decided to head back down to the Beehive Lake. The air was much cooler at the lake and the breeze a bit stiff so we took a few pics and headed down the trail a bit to eat lunch in a more sheltered spot.

The trail was quite busy on the descent…we met three groups of people heading up, loaded with backpacks and gear for an overnight stay. While there are several campsites spread out quite nicely, unless they walked around the lake a bit they would not find them. Only one party had actually been up there before and this was a day hike for them…they were stocking both lakes with baby fish. I was surprised to see so many on the trail today but I guess summer mode is in full swing, even on Monday.

Coming down, I was able to spot one of the two lower Beehive Lakes nestled down deep in the canyon…somehow I missed them on the way up. My guess is that the smaller of the two is all but dried up.

Left home 8:30
Started up 9:45
Turned around 1:10

Got to truck 3:15
Total miles hiked 10 miles
Total hiking time 5 hours, 30 minutes