Mountain Lakes via Varney Creek Hike
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
- Start point: Varney Creek Trailhead
- Ending Point: Lake Harriette
- Hike Type: Lollipop loop
- Distance: 16.8 miles
- Elevation gain: 2870 feet
- High Point: 7,570 feet
- Difficulty: Difficult
- Seasons: Mid-summer into fall
- Family Friendly: No
- Backpackable: Yes
- Crowded: No
Contents |
Hike Description
The Mountain Lakes Wilderness is one of Oregon’s original wildernesses, designated in 1964, and the only wilderness in the United States that forms a perfect township square (36 square miles). The geology of the area has been revised of late, with Forest Service publications still touting the area as the remains of a single caldera, like Crater Lake, with scattered lakes throughout. However, recent analysis suggests that there were at least four shield volcanoes here and that the lakes are actually in cirque depressions carved by glaciation. Three well-maintained trails lead into the central Mountain Lakes Loop Trail, with the Varney Creek approach being the one with the least elevation gain.
The trail dives into coniferous forest immediately – a mixture of Douglas-fir, ponderosa pine, lodgepole pine, red fir, and white fir of various ages. The understory is mostly clear except for small chinquapin bushes and patches of pipsissewa. Heading gradually up, you’ll pass the wilderness sign and then traverse through boxwood and snow brush before passing below a scree slope. The route then passes across Varney Creek on two footbridges; here the creek braids through a marshy bottomland in an area of considerable blowdown.
From the creek, the trail switchbacks left and begins another gradual ascent, with Mount Harriman looming above. You’ll pass through several small meadows above the creek where lupine and goldenweed bloom and get better views of Mt. Harriman, the second highest of the four shield volcanoes that form this complex. The purple blooms of monkshood and tower larkspur may be seen in the lush bogs, which also support a healthy population of mosquitoes. Chipmunks skitter off into the undergrowth. Mountain hemlock begins to dominate the forest as the trail tread becomes rockier; there are sugar pines in here as well. A spur right gives you a view over to the north ridge of Greylock Mountain. Then the trail veers left and, becoming ditch-like, ascends to a saddle. A short drop from the saddle takes you to the Varney Creek-Mountain Lakes Loop Trail Junction, where you can begin the eight-mile Mountain Lakes Loop.
Turn left for Lake Harriette to do the loop clockwise. Descending through mountain hemlock woods on a rocky tread, you’ll soon arrive at the shores of Lake Como, with the scree slopes of Whiteface Peak above. There are campsites to the right, but keep left to stay on the main trail. Hiking up, there’s a good view of Mt. Harriman from a talus slope. Then you’ll see another, nameless, lake a short bushwhack off to your right. From this lakeshore, the bright scree of Whiteface Peak and Peak 7703 is very evident. When you reach a saddle, you’ll get your first view of Lake Harriette nestled in the bowl below, with Mt. Carmine looming behind and the top of Aspen Butte beyond another saddle. On the shore of Lake Harriette, a short trail leads to campsites on the right.
Keep left to circle around the north shore of Lake Harriette, hiking through a grouseberry and pinemat manzanita carpet. There are more campsites near Harriette’s outlet creek, which runs dry in the summer. In a hollow carpeted with heather and grouseberry, you’ll pass two small tarns before the trail begins to wind up below the scree slopes of Mt. Carmine. Two switchbacks take you up to a forested bench, from which you’ll wind up to a saddle and the junction with the South Pass Trail.
Stay right on the Mountain Lakes Loop, making a couple of short switchbacks that offer a good view of Aspen Butte’s steep east face. Another switchback allows you to look back to Mt. Carmine, South Pass Lake below, and vast Upper Klamath Lake in the distance. From here, make a traverse to the nose of Aspen Butte’s north ridge, where you’ll see a couple of small cairns and a new sign marking the user trail to the summit of Aspen Butte (see the Aspen Butte Hike).
From this junction, the trail switchbacks down to reach the rim 750 feet above Lake Harriette. There are views to the lake, all of them partially blocked by conifers, from several short spurs that lead to rocky perches. Heading away from the rim, the trail soon passes the junction with the Clover Creek Cutoff Trail and keeps winding down losing about 300 feet of elevation. Pass below the expansive talus slopes east of Whiteface Peak before rising in sugar pine and mountain hemlock forest to the junction with the Clover Creek Trail.
Make a right here to ascend gently though old-growth mountain hemlock forest as Whiteface Peak appears to your right. The trail emerges on a gravelly flat to reach the junction with the five-mile Mountain Lakes Trail, which begins near Lake of the Woods. Whitebark pines are the dominant tree on this saddle. you’ll keep right on the loop trail and drop over the ridge crest to make a rising traverse that offers views through the pines of Brown Mountain and Mount McLaughlin. Soon the trail begins a descent of six switchbacks on the flaky scree of Peak 7703. Soon after you enter montane forest, you’ll pass between Eb Lake (on the left) and Zeb Lake (on the right). (The better campsites are above Zeb Lake’s west shore.) In another 0.4 miles, come to the Varney Creek-Mountain Lakes Loop Trail Junction, and bear left to return to the trailhead.
Facilities
- Information kiosk at trailhead
- Share trail with horses
Maps
- Maps: Hike Finder
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service: Mountain Lakes Wilderness
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service: Klamath Ranger District
- Oregon Recreation Map Series: Upper Klamath Basin
Trip Reports
- Search Trip Reports for Mountain Lakes via Varney Creek Hike
- Mountain Lakes via Varney Creek – 8-19-20
- Harriette Lake, Mountain Lakes Wilderness, June 23-24, 2015
Related Discussions / Q&A
- Search Trail Q&A for Mountain Lakes via Varney Creek Hike
Guidebooks that cover this destination
- Hiking Southern Oregon by Art Bernstein & Zach Urness
- 100 Hikes/Travel Guide: Southern Oregon & Northern California by William L. Sullivan
- 100 Classic Hikes in Oregon by Douglas Lorain
- Oregon’s Wilderness Areas by George Wuerthner
- 75 Scrambles in Oregon by Barbara I. Bond
- Hiking Oregon by Donna Lynn Ikenberry
- Where the Trails Are: Ashland – Medford And Beyond by Bill Williams
- Hiking Oregon’s Southern Cascades and Siskiyous by Art Bernstein
- 76 Day Hikes Within 100 Miles of the Rogue Valley by Art Bernstein
- Oregon Hiking by Sean Patrick Hill
- Pacific Northwest Hiking by Craig Hill & Matt Wastradowski
More Links
- Varney Creek Trail (USFS)
- Mountain Lakes Loop Trail #3727 (USFS)
- Mountain Lakes Loop (Mountain Lakes Wilderness) 30-Jul-2015 (Boots on the Trail)
- Mountain Lakes Loop via Varney Creek Trail (Mountain Lakes Wilderness) (oregonnater)
- Mountain Lakes Wilderness (wanderingyuncks)
- Mountain Lakes Wilderness – Oregon Cascades (Global Creations)
- Mountain Lakes (Oregon Adventures)
- Varney Creek Trail to Lake Harriette (All Trails)
- Mountain Lakes Wilderness (USFS)
- Mountain Lakes Wilderness (Wilderness Connect)
Page Contributors
- bobcat (creator)