Piper Lake Trail #119

Dogs Off-leash

Features Birding · Commonly Backpacked · Fall Colors · Fishing · Lake · River/Creek · Views · Wildflowers · Wildlife

This is grizzly bear, black bear, and mountain lion territory- always carry bear spray! This trail is best attempted in late summer to allow plenty of time for snow melt.

This trail steadily climbs from the trailhead through primarily dense pine forest while loosely following the course of of Piper Creek. The majority of elevation gain is in the last 1 mile prior to Piper Lake. Continue onto Cedar Lake Trail #738 at the end of this trail, drop down to Lower Ducharme Lake (split is not marked, but fairly obvious), or turn back to make it and out-and-back. There are wildflowers that abound in late summer closer to the lake.

If planning on camping, keep in mind that there is only one campsite along the lakeshore with easy water access and a fire ring (but this site is stupendous). A self-sustaining population of Westslope Cutthroat Trout is present in the lake for interested anglers, but don't expect to land any huge fish!

Small mammals, deer, birds