On Wednesday the 26th, Skye and I hiked into Pear and Upper Glidden Lakes. We started at the Pear Lake Trailhead (5,640 ft) in Idaho near Cooper Pass. The trail heads up an old jeep trail for about 1/4 mile to Glidden Pass, then hangs a left and heads west/northwest on trail #404. Going to the right will take you over to Cooper Pass and Upper Glidden Lake. After a brief stroll, the trail will consistantly climb for the next mile. You do get some good views of both Glidden Lakes with Stevens Peak in the background. After a mile or so the trail heads down the hill to give you a bit of a break, at the bottom you are close to the ridgeline and are able to walk over (Montana side) and view the small lake in that drainage before the trail heads back uphill. The trail then becomes a series of rollers for about a 1/3 mile before reaching the intersection leading down to Pear Lake.
There was some snow on the trail down to Pear Lake. I hadn't been to Pear Lake this early in the year before and like most of the lakes early in the summer, the water level was up. It looked like the lake was up at least 4 feet and was covering the campsites along the shoreline. We stayed a while, ate and took some pictures.
My original plan for the day was go to Pear Lake and then drive to Cooper Pass and visit Upper Glidden, but I decided to just hike trail #404 over to Cooper Pass and Upper Glidden Lake and then walk down the road to the Pear Lake trailhead and truck. The trail over to Cooper Pass was in good shape. The trail connects with another 4x4 trail that leads to an old mining claim, but splits where you can see the old tailings piles. Skye and I continued to Upper Glidden Lake, had lunch and then headed back to the truck.
I met one person on the way to Pear Lake. If I recall correctly his name was Tom, a teacher from Spokane. On the way to Cooper Pass, I met 3 motorcyclists riding the trail over to Granite Peak. This trail is open to motorized use. I do not begrudge them riding as I grew up riding motorcycles over many of the Great Burn trails as there was no limitations back in the 1970's. There was one person camped at Upper Glidden, but I didn't chat with them. Overall, a good day logging in over 8 miles with just a couple sprinkles.
On Saturday Kathy, Skye and I hiked into Evans Lake. Kathy wanted to hike to a lake that she hasn't been to, so Evans was the choice. I went to Evans back in 2020, so it was a good opportunity to go back and see how much I forgot about the hike. There are 2 creek crossings in the first 1/2 mile with about 4 small streams or seeps along the rest of the way. The trail climbs about 2,000 feet over the 3.5 miles with some significant steep sections, so not exactly an easy stroll. A good part of the way in the first couple miles the trail is an old road.
The trail is in good shape and has been cut out in the last couple weeks, so no downed trees across the trail. After the last creek crossing it is 500 feet and 12 switchbacks up the drainage headwall to the lake, a 1/2 mile distance.
In 2020, there was a raft, oars and a couple chairs at one of the campsites along the lake. The raft and oars are now gone and one of the chairs was replaced. I fished for a bit and caught one of the small Brook Trout that inhabit the lake. None that I saw were more than 6 inches, but they were very active and went after my lure with enthusiasm, but most were too small to actual get hooked. I cut off 2 of the hooks and bend down the barb on a lure that I use for catch and release fishing. We stayed more than an hour and had lunch.
