Getting There: Take the Willow Creek Road out of Mullan to the Willow Creek trailhead. Willow Creek Road crosses over I-90 just east of Mullan and the trailhead is just a mile from the interstate overpass. The road is a bit rough and narrow but easily car passable. Turn left at the junction for the trailhead, there is a vault toilet available and parking for 10-20 vehicles. You can continue up the road past the trailhead which is an old railroad grade (Northern Pacific) to Lookout Pass.
The trail (#165) starts up an old road for a 1/4 mile, stay straight at the old tailings landing. This portion of the trail is accessible for motorcycles and side by side but turns left back toward lookout at the tailings landing. Continue straight on a lesser old road/trail for another 1/4 mile or so where you make a hard right onto a single track after a switchback; there is a trail number sign here at this intersection. The trail continues up with several switchbacks for about a mile.
At the 1.5-mile mark you come to the only creek crossing on the way to the lake. This crossing can be very slick on the logs set across the span and could be problematic if there is too much water, so be careful. It is not a good place to take a fall. On the other side of the crossing there is an obvious trail to the left that takes off straight up the hill. This is a cutoff trail and not the main trail. It is very steep and used to be in poor condition, but it is now almost as good as the main trail due to the amount of traffic on it.
The main trail is on the right of that and can be hidden by brush. This trail takes you across the prominent rockslide, a couple switchbacks and then lines out to Lower Stevens Lake. Don’t miss out on the falls on one of the switchbacks, it is a steep climb down to get a closer look, but worth it. It is about 2 miles to the lower lake. Head around the lower lake on the right side, the trail is a bit rough, to the set of prominent rock outcroppings on the far side of the lake. The trail then drops behind the rock outcrop then angles up and away from the lower lake. This lower area behind the rock can be under water early in the year, so the trail may not be usable for 20-30 feet. It is only about 200 feet in elevation gain between the lakes and the trail is good.
At the Lake: The upper lake is very nice with multiple campsites around the outlet area. It is a bit more shaded here than the lower lake and I would take the extra time to camp here as opposed to the lower lake, it is worth the extra effort. There are a couple campsites on the left side of the outlet and a couple on the right. The second site to the far right of the outlet is probably the most private of the existing sites. I didn’t do well fishing at this lake either, although I did see a couple small fry’s following the lure in. All in all, going to the upper lake and back to the trailhead for a day hike is about 5 miles.
