Trip Report
Mirror Lake via the PCT
Four of us enjoyed a private hike from the saddle between Mt. Catherine and Mirror Lake/PCT to Mirror Lake with blueberries bursting from the bushes and beautiful wading and swimming conditions.
Courtenay Schurman
- Tue, Jul 22, 2025
- Mirror Lake & Tinkham Peak
- Day Hiking
- Successful
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- Road recommended for high clearance only
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From earlier trip reports this year I was expecting the gravel road up to the PCT-2000 to be worse than it actually was. We switched cars so my friend with a 4x4 drove instead of my Mazda CX-5.
Only one car was parked near Mt. Catherine and one dew-covered car by the Mirror Lake TH (backpackers) when we left the trailhead at 8:15 a.m. The car hood was steaming -- not sure what was up with that -- but we had no issues with the car going downhill. Do make sure you have high clearance for two spots in particular, or just go super slowly. No parking pass needed, no latrine at the PCT-2000.
The grade is very lovely; the trail has some rocky crossings but for the most part is in great shape, with only a few muddy spots where it levels out and has some seasonal ponds that are great for frogs (we saw 3!) I thought we might see some thru-hikers but no such luck. Too early in the season, perhaps?
Flora included plenty of ripe blueberries just up from the cars (picking on the way down!), penstemon, lupines, and beargrass. We spotted 3 frogs and heard 16 bird species including what I could have sworn was a northern saw-whet owl, a whole flock of chickadees, and a Rufous hummingbird that buzzed by as we changed out of our boots. I spotted a coyote crossing the road and a deer in the bushes on the drive up FR-9070.
We headed south toward Stampede Pass and took two short snack / hydration breaks. It felt like we had the trail to ourselves until we heard overnighters swimming and packing up at Mirror Lake. We arrived at the lake around 10 a.m., where we hung out for 1.5 hours. 2 waders and 2 rock-jumper-swimmers. Lovely day, beautiful clear water, so refreshing. There were a few other people up from Cottonwood/Mirror parking, including several foursomes finishing overnight backpacks.
We left at 11:30 and returned to the car shortly after 1 p.m. in 3 hours moving time (2.4 mph average pace) covering 7 miles with about 1200' gain, 2/3 of that going in and 1/3 coming out of the basin. My phone went hot/black (I need a new one) so I lost specifics of AllTrails for the last 15-20 minutes of the trip.
Great company, perfect mid-week weather (not too hot, not too cold, just right) and the bugs weren't too bad. The only issues I had were with my phone (I didn't even drop it, it simply stopped working) and traffic northbound on I-5 around the ship canal bridge; traffic narrows from 4 to 2 lanes, which added a good 30-40 minutes to our travel time going home. I'll stay north for a few weeks except the one hike I'm locked into on Thursday that will take me through the same mess...