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26E212 - Red Lake Trail
Trail Information
Highlights
A high mountain lake hidden at the end of this rock crawling 4x4 trail makes for a killer end-of-trail reward and an even better camping location.
Rock gardens, dense forest, a few short stretches of easy trail and, of course, Red Lake, make up Red Lake Trail.
This is one of many 4x4 trails in the Red Mountain OHV network in the Sierra National Forest, northeast of Shaver Lake and Southeast of Huntington Lake.
Red Lake Trail is one of the "easier" trails in this area, when compared to Mirror Lake Trail and Coyote Lake Trail , but do not underestimate Red Lake. While easier, it is not "easy", and still a challenge to reach the Lake at the end.
Trail Difficulty and Assessment
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Trail Navigation
Red Lake Trail is open 06/15-11/01 each year, but this is subject to extended closures / delayed openings.
Forest Service Trail Status
An easy start from Sand Flats quickly changes at Waypoint 3 when you reach the Gate Keeper. While you can find a line to bypass the worst of the Gate
Keeper obstacles, don't; this is a good indicator of what's to come as rock garden, after rock garden, after rock garden will keep you working to complete this trail.
Yes, there are easy stretches on this trail, and yes, this is the "easier" of the hard trails here, but tire placement is still critical to avoid bends, breaks or hang ups.
Trail Reviews
4.9/5 (21 reviews)
Status: Open
Rated 5/5
Visited: 09/08/2022
Difficulty Accuracy: Spot On
The rating for this trail is spot on. It's a bit narrow in a few spots and the degree of difficulty seems to grow slightly as you get closer to Red Lake. The gate keeper seems to be easier than in years past and should probably be built up a bit. Just know that there are tougher sections of trail further along. We camped at the lake for a couple of nights and had it all to ourselves. Everybody else that we encountered pushed forward over to Coyote, which we ended up hiking to for some awesome lake views. Maybe another time!
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