Читать книгу Trinity Alps & Vicinity: Including Whiskeytown, Russian Wilderness, and Castle Crags Areas. A Hiking and Backpacking Guide онлайн

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About 1 mile from Alpine Lake you reach the notch in the ridge, where you’re met with grand views of distant Mount Shasta and much closer Sawtooth Mountain. In most years you’ll probably encounter a snowfield on the north-facing slope below the notch. Descend this slope to the west toward a group of rocks. You’ll get a glimpse of a lake from there—not Smith Lake, but the smaller and slightly higher Morris Lake (Smith Lake lies just out of view behind granite cliffs and ridges). From the rocks, make an angling descent toward a point right below the terminus of the east ridge of Sawtooth Mountain. Fixed on that point, you head over granite slabs and interlocking patches of meadow to where the outlet creek exits Smith Lake and descends through Bear Gulch.

Attempt to reach Smith Lake close to the outlet, as the slopes higher up around the lake are quite steep and difficult to descend. The outlet stream itself is wedged between granite walls 20–30 feet high, which makes the last part of the route down to the lake tricky. The easiest way across is right where the outlet leaves the lake, where you can scramble down some dirt ramps and hop across the stream. From there, the going is much easier.