Carr Lake Loop

Photos Maps Summary: This is a loop hike that I sort of made up (CCW direction). There's only a short section that is not on a trail or road. With that said, this is a beautiful hike in the Tahoe National Forest near Yuba Pass. At the beginning don't expect to be alone. In fact, in summer expect it to be very crowded. However, once you are past Island Lake you will only see a few people at most. The highlight of this hike is Penner Lake because there are less people here, of a low pass to the ridge above Culbertson Lake, and the potential for a good swim on a hot summer day.Distance: 9.1 miles totalElevation Gain/Loss: 1,360' totalSeason: Mid-June through OctoberFees & Permits: Only special use permitsFinding the Trailhead: 39.4021 N, 120.6429 W (at gate just NW of Carr Lake). To get to the trailhead, take the Bowman Rd north from CA-20 ~8.4 miles and turn right onto the road towards Carr Lake (rough road, high clearance advised) and follow it for ~2.8 miles. The trailhead is just after a gate on the road NW of Carr Lake.

The Hike: We arrived at this trailhead at ~9:45a on a Saturday in late-July and the campground was completely full and there were ~10 cars parked along the eastern side of the road. This was much more than I was expecting (especially this far up a rough road) but we were able to park near the gate (not near enough to block it, however). The trail begins by hugging the northern side of Carr Lake on the way to the dam for Feeley Lake. Crossing the creek below the dam, the trail then climbs up just south of the dam with nice views of Fall Creek Mtn (7490') over the lake. Continuing on, the trail intersects with the Crooked Lakes trail ~1.2 miles from the trailhead (just west of the southern end of Island Lake). Turning left onto the Crooked Lakes trail, we headed NNE towards Penner Lake. Up to this point we were nowhere near alone on the trail (which we're usually spoiled with in the Sierras and have grown accustomed to). Therefore, so far we were not having much fun despite some nice scenery. There was hardly a square foot of space available along the western shore of Island Lake to set up camp, let alone take a look at the lake. However, once we got past the northwestern end of Island Lake we basically had the trail to ourselves with only a few exceptions. Hiking near the Crooked Lakes you really don't get a good view of them until you start climbing the ridge to the north of them. Once you do this there are wonderful views to the south all the way to the northeast. After skirting the eastern side of this ridge the trail comes upon Penner Lake (~2.0 miles from the junction, ~3.2 miles total). There were much less people at this lake than Island Lake, which made it a great lunch stop. After lunch we continued north on the eastern side of Penner Lake and crossed the outlet creek off the northeastern end of Penner Lake (~3.6 miles from the trailhead, ~3.8 miles total w/ side-trip to the east shore of Penner Lake). After this the trail climbs again through some nice lush sections and then skirts another ridge on the eastern side (with some views of Sawmill Lake below).

At ~0.9 miles from the NE end of Penner Lake the trail intersects with the trail coming from Sawmill Lake (to the right) and Rock Lake (to the left). Taking a left here, we quickly came upon the northern end of Rock Lake with a few decent views from the trail (you can get shore views by taking any of the short side trails). Continuing west the trail turns to the SW above Lower Rock Lake. There really aren't any good views of this lake unless you take a side-trail down to the shore.

Continuing SW and downhill the trail passes through a nice meadow with a plethora of Mule's Ear (not yet bloomed when we visited). We passed a couple of horse riders shortly after this meadow heading the opposite way. The trail then turns to the SE, passes through Texas Creek and after ~1.7 miles from the trail intersection east of Rock Lake we reached the northwestern end of Culbertson Lake at the dam. There are a few cabins on the western shore of the lake but other than that there is very nice scenery. I was surprised to find basically no one up here when I visited, considering the ant farm at Carr Lake. Following the road from the NW end of Culbertson Lake we headed down towards the Lindsey Lakes while passing through another nice small meadow filled with Mule's Ear and past a small pond. At the NW end of the middle Lindsey Lake (6436'; ~0.8 miles from the NW end of Culbertson Lake) we left the road and walked SW on top of the dam with the hopes of making a short cut to a four-wheel drive road south of the Lindsey Lakes (no trail). We made our way SW and passed a small pond on its eastern side, just SW of the middle Lindsey Lake. After this we descended down towards a creek, crossed it (on some rocks) and made our way up to the four-wheel drive road (~0.5 miles from the Middle Lindsey Lake dam). All that was left was for us was to follow this road up to where it intersects the road to Carr Lake (~1.1 miles after getting on the road) and then follow that up the rest of the way to the trailhead (a further ~0.25 miles). An alternate trailhead for this hike could be the Grouse Ridge Lookout (add ~3.5 miles in total). Also, an alternate loop would involve passing the Crooked Lakes trail near Island Lake and continuing east towards Sand Ridge, where you could turn left before reaching Sand Ridge and head towards Shotgun Lake. After passing Shotgun Lake this trail intersects with the trail from Sawmill Lake and you can turn left and head up towards Rock Lake and continue back towards Carr Lake as described previously.