It didn't take us long to hike the short distance to the Fern Lake Trailhead. Our plan was to day hike to the lake, return and continue up the N.F. trail to Fox Camp.

It is only about 1.6 miles to Fern Lake, but you have to climb 1700 feet in the bargain.  In 1982, we did a fifty miler over part of this route, and hauled our packs up this extremely steep and primitive trail.  I swore that I would never do that again.

Fern Lake is a beautiful lake that sits in a bowl near the ridgetop.  Just when you think that you are never going to get there, you pop over a mound of granite and, boom!, there it is. We had a good time fishing for the cutthroat trout that inhabit the lake.

This video was taken near the lake, where we got our first view of the forest fire that forced us to change our trip plans.