Out for a Drive: Lakes you can drive to with a regular vehicle. There are just a handful in the Burn Region. Several have ADA compliant trails.
Family Friendly: Lakes or Peaks that are doable for just about everyone. The distances are fairly moderate, mostly no more than 4 miles one-way. The trails are well maintained with mostly easy to moderate grades. There are no sustained steep sections, nor are there any off trail sections. Examples of steep grades would be the drop into Square Lake or Dalton Lake from the state line. The shorelines are easily accessible with opportunities to fish or otherwise access the water.
The Classics: Lakes or Peaks that require a longer hike and/or more difficult grades than most of the Family Friendly rated lakes. Distances may be as much as 10 miles one-way with short sections of steep and rocky grades, especially if accessing from the State Line Trail (#738) or State Line Road (#391). Overall, the trails into the lakes will have easy, moderate and difficult sections, with a short section of cross-country travel possible. Overall, the trails into the lakes are easy to follow. Some lakes have multiple routes into them and difficulty will be dependent on that. For example, hiking to the Lower Siamese Lake via Straight Creek & Chilcoot Pass is far more difficult than from the West Fork of Fish Creek or Fish Lake access points. Not all the lakes have fish or fishing can be very marginal and some shorelines can be difficult to navigate.
I Don't Want to Share: These are lakes or peaks that can be difficult to get to or a bit out of the way. Trails to the lakes tend to have sustained or multiple steep and/or rocky grades. Many of the trails are marginal in condition, with possible long sections of cross-country travel, some with brush or downfall. There are usually significant elevation changes on the route to the lake. In general, these are lakes that tend not to have much visitation, so the odds are good that you will be the only one there.
I Want to Fish: These are the lakes that contain a fish population. Most of the lakes have either Westslope Cutthroat, Eastern Brook Trout or Rainbow Trout. The only deviation from this are the Steep Lakes where the lower lake contains Golden Trout. Fishing in these mountain lakes can range from "Exceptional" to "Downright Piss Poor". In many cases time of day, hatch presence or stocking schedule will determine your success rate. I have caught fish at these lakes with most of the lake still frozen over in early summer to October before the first snow. I am not going to "rate" the fishing at any of the lakes as the fishing can be dependent on where the lake is on the stocking schedule and a person's skill level.
