NorCal Dog Trails: Sapphire Lake via Stuart Fork Creek

Near: Weaverville
Distance: 28 miles
Elevation: 2,800 to 5,900 feet
Vegetation: Pine Forest
Last Visit: May 2019

Cascades on the Stuart Fork Creek just below Emerald Lake, with Sawtooth Ridge in the background

Sapphire Lake (and on the way, Emerald Lake) is one of the more popular destinations in the Trinity Alps. The lakes are lovely, they're surrounded by dramatic peaks and ridges, and the trail runs near several cascades and small waterfalls near the lakes. Along with the slightly more popular Canyon Creek Lakes route, this is one of the lowest-elevation hikes of true alpine character in the state, which means it melts out early and makes a good Memorial Day and early June destination even after a big snow year like 2019. While theoretically doable as a very long day hike, the lakes are best reached on an overnight, or as 3-day backpack as we took it, camping at Morris Meadows about halfway to the lakes. While I enjoyed Emerald and Sapphire Lakes as much or maybe more than the Canyon Creek Lakes themselves, views and waterfalls are more abundant in the first half the Canyon Creek Lakes hike, so make that one your first choice for a valley hike in the Trinity Alps.

Rules

This hike is in the Trinity Alps wilderness, part of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. No permits or fees required for day hiking, but camping in the back country requires a free wilderness permit. Use of a campstove or building a campfire requires a campfire permit. Both can be obtained for free at the Weaverville Ranger Station. Dogs are allowed off-leash if under effective voice control.

Trailhead

The Stuart Fork Trailhead. Take Trinity Alps Road from Hwy 3 on the west side of Trinity Lake. The road passes through a private resort but is open to the public. Just drive nice and slow as families, kids, and dogs are often about at the resort. The road is dirt past the resort but easily passable without a high clearance vehicle. The trailhead is right next to Bridge Campground, a cheap, rustic campground (pit toilet, no showers, no potable water). There is no parking fee at the trailhead.

The Stuart Fork Trailhead

Route

The route is simply up the valley along the east / north side of the Stuart Fork Creek. The trail dips down to the creek now and then, but spends most of the time a hundred feet or so above the creek on the hillside. The first half of the hike to Morris Meadows (about 7 miles in) is almost entirely in the trees, then views of the surrounding ridges start to open up around 10 miles in, with lots of excellent views of Sawtooth Ridge in the latter stages of the hike. The trail is very easy to follow for most of the route, but was a bit overgrown just below Emerald Lake. From Emerald Lake to Sapphire Lake is a less well maintained trail. It was mostly covered in snow for our trip, making our progress a bit slow in this last section, but the parts that were melted out looked fairly easy to follow, so this section is probably still fairly straightforward later in the season. While you don't cross the Stuart Fork, there are several smaller stream crossings along the way. The biggest streams (Deer Creek and Deep Creek) are crossed by well constructed foot bridges and are no problem. The a few of the smaller ones are bit trickier though. Nothing difficult, but in early summer you'll have to choose between improvised bridges or getting your feet wet. Sandals or crocs could come in handy if you're prone to just walking through streams like I am.

Also note that on the way to Morris Meadows a trail forks left to climb up to Alpine Lake and the ridge below little Granite Peak. We thought we might add a day hiking to Alpine Lake on our trip, but the Stuart Fork is not bridged here and crossing is not advisable during high water early in the summer.

CalTopo Map: https://caltopo.com/m/BM7M