Search trip reports
Placeholder Routes & Places

Trip Report    

Day Hike - Basin Lake

Day hike to Norse peak and Basin Lake.

Mark Scheffer Mark Scheffer
June 16, 2025
  • Road suitable for all vehicles

  • Trail was in good shape with a couple of blow downs (that were being cleared by a volunteer on horse back).  Near the ridge crest the trail had small sections covered by snow.   the trail down to Basin lake was steep and partially snow covered so the group made just Norse peak the destination for the hike.

The day started cloudy with fog and rime ice on the trees above 6200'.  By the time we reached the ridge crest at 6700' the clouds were starting to burn off and we were above the clouds.  There were short (20-50')sections of snow on the trail but nothing that was concerning.  The summit was snow free.

The route down to Basin Lake is steep in places and appeared to be snow covered for sections thus making a descent more than what a day hike would entail so I elected to turn the team back at Norse instead.

There were several LARGE packs of coyotes in the hills to the east and south of Norse that had some very loud howling sessions for us to listen to. 

Total time to the summit was about 2.5 hrs and 2 hrs back to the cars.  Total distance was 9.75 miles and 2900' of gain.