A long hike up Bear Creek to Bear Lake that's easy at the bottom and moderate further up. For most of the way Bear Creek is never far away
to provide camp spots and fresh water. Parts of the trail are in dense forest which provides great shade on warm days. Other times you
are waking through clearings and meadows with views of Goat Mountain to your left and Bear Creek and steep canyon walls to your right.
I arrived at the trailhead Saturday expecting to see a bunch of vehicles but I was the second car plus there was one horse trailer. You
start out on the right side of Bear Creek then cross Bear Creek on a good bridge after a quarter mile. All of the rest of the trip
except when you are almost to the pass about 17 miles in is spent on the left side of Bear Creek. This time of year Bear Creek is
running high so any of the other trails that may head to the right and up to Washboard trail and/or Standly Guard Station mean a ford
of Bear Creek.
You could still see places higher up where the snow remained. After three miles you enter the Eagle Cap Wilderness. After 4 miles you
pass by the Goat Creek trail then cross Goat Creek. The person in the other car was camped here. After a bit more than 4 miles you pass
by a old guard station hidden in the trees to your right. I passed by the horse folks who where just out for the day and were headed
back. Beyond this I had the place to myself. I talked with the horse folks and they had said the ranger station had told them the snow
level on the trail was around 6500'. The trail had not been maintained for the year yet so that made for slow going in spots but did
guarantee that no more people on horses were coming up the trail.
After ten miles I passed through a great meadow just below Goat Mountain and according to the map I was about to leave the river for the
next 3 miles or so so I figured this was as good of a place to stop as I would find. Enough time left to setup camp and eat before it
clouded up with a few sprinkles and a few claps of thunder. Pretty tame for around these parts (wait until the next night though).
The next morning broke clear and warm. Decision time. Should I lug my pack the remaining 9.5 miles to the lake not knowing if I would
hit snow first or just try and do the whole 19 miles as a day hike. I had such a great camp spot already I decided to stay put and do
the day hike.
After 1/2 mile you come to Granite Creek which has no bridge and no logs to cross so off come the boots for a mid-thigh wade through snow
melt water the first thing in the morning. Later in the year this is probably just a rock hop. Over and under fallen trees until after 3
miles or so you hit what the map says is the 'middle bear camp'. This is a huge meadow where I could see that it would be popular when
the trail opens up and the horses are able to get up here. You cross small stream after small stream and with the size of the meadow
finding a camp spot away from others would not be a problem. This is where the patches of snow started to appear.
A mile or so beyond the meadow you begin the serious climbing and you start to get into the Eagle Cap wilderness that most are familiar
with. Fewer trees (Whitebarks) and the trail being hacked into the side of the granite cliff. The views down Bear Creek valley from here
is great.
Eventually you come to the ford of Bear Creek which by this time is just a rock hop. You finally hit the saddle and the junction of the
Washboard trail. Bear Lake is to the left on a visible but unsigned trail. There were just tons of those yellow flowers (one of my
pic's) all over the saddle area and the view over to the main mountains of Eagle Cap were off to the South. You should be able to spot
Eagle Cap, Matterhorn and Sacajawea in one of my pic's.
Up to here the snow was just hit and miss but up to Bear Lake it was mostly soft snow. Got to love those Gore-Tex boots. Finally made it to
Bear Lake at 7900'. First time I had ever been up here and since it is far enough away from most of the trail heads it didn't look like
it saw much use though it was hard to tell with things being buried under the snow. Didn't look like there were many good camp spots
either, at least close to the lake. What had trees was to steep and what was flat had no shelter. Best bet looked to be along the half
mile walk from the saddle to the lake. Good views but you would have to lug water.
The trip back to camp was long but uneventful. Not a sole seen all day until I got close to my camp when a couple of guys who where
camped further back down the valley were just day hiking up to the 'middle bear camp' area. It had started to cloud up big time by the
time I got back to camp and it looked like I would not get dinner ready and eaten before the storm hit but I lucked out. By 6:30 though
it looked like it was 9:30 with the black clouds hiding the sunset. Not much later the storm hit (the day hiker were seen running back
to their camp about half an hour earlier). Only the mountains get thunder storms like that with the lighting flashing every few minutes
and the thunder reverberating of the canyon walls shortly after. Glad I did not push up to Bear Lake and camp on the ridge.
FYI's:
-With 39 or so miles and around 4200' of elevation gain this would probably be a five+ day trip if you were going to pack all the way up
to Bear Lake. Loop trips are possible by combining this trail with the Washboad trail but I would make sure you could ford Bear Creek at
Dobbins Creek first.
-This is horse country so with the trail not being maintained yet and just enough snow being left on the trail to slow them down this
was the perfect time to do this trail. My guess is that this trail is heavily used during hunting season what with the meadows and the
established horse camps.
Bear Creek
Goat Mountain
Upper Bear Creek saddle looing West
Upper Bear Creek looking South
Looking South over to Eagle Cap and the Matterhorn
Bear Lake in July  | 
