Martin Lake, Booth Lake, Square Lake Loop 10/8-10/9

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christabrews
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Martin Lake, Booth Lake, Square Lake Loop 10/8-10/9

Post by christabrews » October 10th, 2022, 7:16 pm

I got a nice view of Martin Lake on my recent PCT section hike, and decided I'd like to go visit it up close. Also, I've read that the fishing can be pretty good there. The plan was to hike to Martin Lake via the PCT, camp and fish there, then hike out past Booth lake and Square lake on the way out.

We started down the PCT on Saturday, mid morning. It was busy out there. I can't count how many groups we encountered. Finally, we reached the point that I thought would be the best place to bail into the woods toward Martin Lake. We did not go as far down the PCT to actually see the lake from the trail. It's much too steep there. There was an animal trail to follow in places as we descended. It was actually pretty easy to follow until it hit some thick brush and we couldn't follow it anymore. So we relied on the GPS at that point. The animal trail reemerged right when the terrain flattened out.
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There was nobody at the lake. It's a very pretty spot. About an hour after we arrived, a couple showed up at the lake. They were doing the same loop as us, but as a day hike. They were the only people we saw off trail.

The fishing was poor. I think we had two bites each, and that was it. Also, I saw a dead fish underwater when I was out in the float tube. I don't think the fish here are doing very well. In general, the fishing this year has been below average at most of our spots. I think the heatwave last summer, combined with the extra long winter this year, decimated the fish populations.

I found this old sign embedded in a dead tree. Was there an official trail to this lake a long time ago?
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The next day, we tried fishing again and didn't even have any bites. We headed out towards the Old Summit Trail. It's weird that both Caltopo and my natgeo paper map show Martin Lake having an outflow. The hill to the east of Martin Lake is much too high for the lake itself to have an outflow. The lake level would have to be at least triple in size for an outflow to exist. I initially planned for us to go straight east to the Old Summit trail, and then head south to Booth Lake, but we saw Booth lake from up the hill, and ended up heading straight there. We weren't too thrilled about the lunch choices we packed, so we didn't stick around and kept going.
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We stopped briefly at Square Lake to let our dog take a dip. He was panting pretty hard and needed to cool off.
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The place we stopped was a campsite we used a couple years ago. Unfortunately, we found it trashed. Someone left shoes, underwear, socks, and other garbage behind.


Hiking through the B&B burn area always makes me wonder what it looked like before, and if it will ever recover. Looking at the area near Booth Lake, there seems to be hardly any new trees coming in. If anyone has any pictures of Square Lake or Booth Lake before the burn, I would love to see them!

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