Photo: Trout Lake.
Trout Lake is a fairly easy 6.2 (one way) mile hike with lots of paintbrush and lupines blooming away. I drove to the end of Icicle Road, rode my bike to the Jack/Trout trailhead and hiked in. Approximately 10 trees down on the trail, and it gets a little thin on the saddle portion. I spotted something new on the Wilderness signs-no hang gliders (along with bikes and motorcycles). Maybe I just never noticed the gliders strapped to peoples packs before?
Details Details
Attractions: It's certainly not our most spectacular local hike, but it is a good wildflower walk, a walk with a few pretty viewpoints, and something different to try once you've knocked off many of the other local hikes.
Access: Drive the Icicle River Road west of Leavenworth about 16.5 miles and turn left at the Rock Island Campground. Drive 0.2 miles, cross the river and then turn left again on Forest Road 615. Drive another 0.2 miles to the Jack-Trout Trailhead and park.
Trip Instructions: Print our topographic map and follow the red-dashed route to the lake. Guidebooks put the one-way distance to the lake at 5.75 miles. Elevation gain is about 2000 vertical feet. General difficulty: Intermediate.
Other trails branch off from this route. Our map shows a yellow route (Trail 1558) which can create about a 12-mile outing. As of 2008, we'd recommend the yellow route only for adventurous types -- the trail was brushy, had lots of deadfall, and took a streak of masochism to enjoy. A far more enjoyable and scenic hike (albeit considerably longer) is to follow Trail 1554 another 3.25 miles (one-way) to the very scenic Windy Pass.
Permits: A Northwest Forest Pass in normally needed to park at the Trailhead.
Note: In May 2008 the landslide that came down Doctor Creek washed out the Icicle River Road just upstream of the Ida Creek Campground. As of the summer of 2009 you still couldn't drive much past the Ida Creek Campground but there was talk of the road being repaired during the summer of 2010. To access this trail while the road is washed out park at the end of the drivable portion of the road (no permits or passes needed) and use a mountain bike to ride 3 miles to the Rock Island Campground. Then use the instructions above to reach the trailhead. The good news about the washout -- you're likely to have this trail, or any other trail past the washout, to yourself.