West Tennessee Lakes Trail #1499

Dogs Leashed

Features Commonly Backpacked · Lake · River/Creek

The West Tennessee Lakes trail takes off from Lily Lake at a steep grade to the north west. The route finds its way around a rocky hill toward the wide meadow which envelops West Tennessee Creek. Continuing through the trees north of the meadow, periodic views cast out across the clearing towards Buckeye Peak and the higher summits of the Mosquito Range behind it. Nearing 11,000 feet, you'll come across the wilderness boundary, and just beyond here, you reach a wooden fence and a trail branches off to the north and leads to the 10th Mountain Division Hut, just one of a system of 34 backcountry huts managed by the not-for-profit organization of the same name.

As the trail gets closer to the meadow, swampy stretches and seasonal drainages wash across the trail. Game trails thread across the willows, and with any luck, you might spot a moose or an elk grazing near the water's edge. At 2.4 miles, the trail takes a sharp right turn into the trees then crosses another drainage. Where the trail gets closer to the creek it is often muddy. After the meadow, thick stands of pine reclaim the trail once again. At 3.25 miles, now above 11,000 feet, a smaller meadow tucked into the glaciated hills clears the way to a glance at the basin wall. To start the final stretch, the trail tapers off in the woods south of the lowest lake.

From here, there is a trail to the upper lakes, but you really have to look for it. At the south side of the lake, follow the trail downhill to a campsite and across the river to a second, more hidden, campsite. At this second campsite, a very faint strip of flattened grass leads toward a band of large boulders. Follow the wall higher on a more defined trail to where it eventually climbs out onto a scree slope near treeline. Random cairns mark out a route, but you can just aim toward where the basin plateaus near the creek's outlet. Reaching the high point, the trail ends at the lower of the two upper lakes.