Hilton Lakes 3 and 4

Dogs Leashed

Features Commonly Backpacked · Fishing · Lake · River/Creek · Swimming · Views · Wildflowers · Wildlife

On the Hilton Lakes Trail, about 1/2 mile below the high point, the sign at a trail junction points uphill to Lakes 3 and 4 and on down the trail to Lake 2. That means the large lake farther down the trail is Lake 2 and Davis Lake would be Lake 1, except no one calls it that. The Lakes 3 and 4 trail is well maintained, but its many rock steps make the up and down a little harder.

It is possible to avoid much of the climb by taking a rough, off-trail shortcut from the Hilton Lakes Trail. However, this requires climbing over 100-200 yards of large talus rocks. Start from roughly 200 yards from where the trail begins to drop significantly. Once across the talus, angle gradually up until you meet the Lakes 3 and 4 trail. I saw some ducks (2-3 rocks in piles) that show people have gone this way before, but there were not enough of the ducks to clearly mark a route.

From Lake 3, the trail climbs along and then over a low ridge. On the ridge there is an unsigned junction with a clearly visible, but unmaintained trail that leads to the upper Hilton Lakes. From the ridge, our trail drops slightly to cross Hilton Creek and then climbs slightly to Lake 4. There are some good camp sites at both Lakes 3 and 4.