Caribou Lakes
Trinity Alps Wilderness, Coffee Creek · near Coffee Creek · Shasta Cascade
Hiking
At a glance
- Difficulty
- strenuous
- Route type
- out-and-back
- Distance
- 18.6 miles
- Elevation gain
- 4,100 ft
- Time needed
- multi-day
- Best season
- Mid-July–September
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- Yes
- How the permit works
- Free self-issue wilderness permit (overnight); California Campfire Permit. Getting to the trailhead is the crux — ~20 mi of Coffee Creek Road, upper portion narrow gravel/dirt.
- How hard the permit is to get
- 1 of 5
What is here
- Features
- Largest lakes in the Trinity Alps · Sawtooth Ridge panorama · Caribou Basin · Big sunrise/sunset crest views
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Allowed
- Good for a first timer
- No
Hiking detail
- Intl tip
- The last mile drops to the lakes, meaning you climb back out on the way home — plan energy accordingly. Tank up on water; there's a long exposed dry stretch near the saddle.
The guide
The Caribou Basin holds the biggest lakes in the wilderness, cupped beneath the jagged Sawtooth. The trail climbs to a high sad…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Caribou Lakes — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 41.006, -122.934