Russian Wilderness
Klamath National Forest · near Callahan / Etna · Shasta Cascade
Hiking
At a glance
- Difficulty
- strenuous
- Route type
- out-and-back
- Distance
- 16 miles
- Elevation gain
- 3,500 ft
- Time needed
- multi-day
- Best season
- July–September
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- No
- How the permit works
- No permit or quota required — self-register at the trailhead. Free California Campfire Permit needed for a stove. A tiny, botanically extraordinary wilderness with astonishing conifer diversity.
- How hard the permit is to get
- 1 of 5
What is here
- Features
- World-record conifer diversity · Chain of granite lakes · Deep solitude · PCT access
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Allowed
- Good for a first timer
- No
Hiking detail
- Nights
- 2–3
- Resupply
- None needed. No bear canister required; hang food. Water plentiful at the lakes.
- Intl tip
- This is deep, remote country with faint trails and long dirt-road approaches — come with solid navigation skills and a full tank. The lakes are the destination; Big Blue Lake beneath its granite headwall is the scenic standout. Because it's so little-known and permit-free, it's the ultimate solitude trip in a state where solitude is increasingly hard to find.
The guide
The Russian Wilderness is one of California's smallest and most extraordinary wild places — a compact granite range in the Klam…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Russian Wilderness — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 41.29, -122.94