I rate the trails/routes to the lakes into 5 separate categories. I tried to be a bit more inventive about how I view the trails along the stateline. These ratings generally apply to an average person that doesn’t spend countless hours out hiking and backpacking, classic weekend warriors. If you are in your 20’s or 30's, do a lot of mountaineering or are a runner/biker/triathlete then you can downgrade these ratings appropriately.
• Drivable: Able to drive within a hundred yards to the lake, can be wheelchair accessible. An example here is Diamond Lake
• City Walk: The trail has an easy grade and/or not more than 2 miles in distance. Easy for people wearing flipflops, carrying no water and generally unprepared for being out in the woods. Basically, a dirt sidewalk. Young children can make this hike with very little problems. An example here is Revett Lake.
• Classic: The trail is in good condition with manageable grades and some rocky sections. There are the occasional short steep sections to make you sweat and wish you hadn’t packed so much in your backpack. Probably no more than 10 miles in length. This is a trail that you can take on a Friday afternoon and get to the lake for the weekend in just a couple hours. Depending on the route these trails are usually child friendly. These are the vast bulk of the trails to the lakes along the state line.
• Challenger: This trail has some extended steep climbs, are generally rough and rocky and can be more than 10 miles, although only a couple lakes listed on this site have hikes of 10 miles or more. Water sources may be limited, so you may have to carry multiple liters for the entire distance. There may be some short sections of cross-country travel. If you are not in shape, packed too heavy or a combination of those and/or older; then you will know it. Probably won’t kill you but you’ll know you had to work. Children should already be seasoned and an experienced hiker / camper. An example is Kelly Lake at the head of Kelly Creek in Idaho. I include some shorter hikes like Square or Clear Lake in this category because the trail is so god awful steep.
• Grinder: These trails will have very steep and unrelenting grades, very rough or non-existent trails or some combination of those. You may have to do a significant amount of cross-country travel or route finding. If unprepared, you may not be able to make the distance and / or you will need a day to recover. Very few lakes along the state line meet these criteria; sometimes it may depend on the chosen route for those lakes with multiple access points. An example is the Middle Cache Lake in the upper basin of Cache Creek.
