the canyon and sheltered in a grove of large red firs, is Portuguese Camp, with ample room for 10–15 campers in several excellent sites. From the camp, continue along the rocky Stuart Fork Trail about 300 yards to a signed junction with the trail to Sawtooth Ridge and Caribou Lakes Basin on the left.
SIDE TRIP TO SAWTOOTH RIDGE
Opinions about the actual number of switchbacks on the 2,200-foot climb up the very steep face of Sawtooth Ridge vary between 89 and 98. Once you’ve decided to undertake the rigorous ascent, you’ll have no trouble following the trail up the ridge, as there is simply no other place to walk through the thick brush and up the steep hillside of metamorphosed rock above. The distance from the junction to Big Caribou Lake is 3.6 miles; if you are carrying a backpack, you should allow a minimum of 4 hours, including some time at the crest to absorb and photograph the incredible views. Carry plenty of water, and an early morning start will help you beat some of the heat on the south-facing ascent, which can be brutally hot by noon in midsummer. A young person died on this hill in 1982, presumably of complications associated with heat exhaustion. Horses are not allowed on this section of trail.
Once you reach the crest of Sawtooth Ridge, Big Caribou Lake and the entire length of trail down to the lake is clearly visible, zigzagging down the steep slope to the south end of Caribou Lake and then following gentler terrain through the open granite basin past Lower Caribou and Snowslide Lakes. Above the far end of the basin, you have the option to follow the longer but easier new trail around the northwest ridge of Caribou Mountain, or the shorter but steeper old trail directly over the ridge. The two trails reconnect at Caribou Meadows and then long-legged switchbacks, followed by a long traverse, and a shorter set of switchbacks lead to the crossing of South Fork Salmon River and the Big Flat Trailhead. More complete directions from Sawtooth Ridge to Big Caribou Lake and the Big Flat Trailhead can be found in reverse in Trip 19.
A half mile above Portuguese Camp, the Stuart Fork Trail passes a few fair campsites and draws near the tiny river for the last time before climbing the north side of the canyon on the way to lovely Emerald Lake. The outlet cascades over ledges below to the south. Halfway along a level stretch of trail, lined with lush foliage and wildflowers, another spring-fed rivulet tumbles down a ledge and across the trail. As you steeply ascend the final quarter mile of trail to the top of a dike, the rock underfoot transitions from metamorphic to granite. The canyon walls on both sides of Emerald Lake are also granite, showing a sharp line of demarcation where the red, metamorphic strata of Sawtooth Ridge begins. You pass a terribly overused campsite in a small grove of firs at the north end of the rock dike, and then dip down almost to the lake before climbing above the north shore on the way toward Sapphire Lake.
Emerald Lake is an outstandingly beautiful 21-acre lake in a bowl gouged out of solid granite by the same glaciers that were born in the giant cirque above and were responsible for carving out the 2,000-foot-deep canyon. The lake is normally warm enough by early August for comfortable swimming, with shelving rocks and a sandy slope at the northeast shore providing a convenient spot for sunbathing and for admiring the stunning scenery. Unfortunately, some ignorant people have camped here over the years; a worse spot to set up camp is hard to imagine—it’s way too close to the water. Fishing is not spectacular here, but some small brook trout usually rise for flies toward evening. The best place to drop a line seems to be near the inlet on the southwest shore. Remember, campfires are not allowed at any of the Stuart Fork lakes.
Emerald Lake Dam
A dam of cut, fitted granite blocks was built in the 1890s to fill the notch worn by the outlet stream at the south end of the natural granite dike along the east shore. The dam raised the level of the lake more than 20 feet to store water for use at the La Grange Mine on Oregon Mountain, 29 miles to the southwest. The dam has been breached now and the lake has returned to its previous level, but the rest of the dam remains, a testament to the prodigal efforts men exert to extract gold from the ground.
The trail to Sapphire Lake contours around the north shore of Emerald Lake, turning southwest through brush and across a talus slope about 100 feet above the surface. As you approach the connecting stream between the two lakes, the trail turns west to snake up over steep granite shelves on the way to the lake.
Sapphire Lake is twice the size of Emerald Lake and, with a reported depth of more than 200 feet, is the deepest lake in the Trinity Alps. The lake is spectacularly beautiful—a jewel, as the name implies. From the dike at the east end of the lake, three sides of a giant granite cirque with remnant snowfields spread before your eyes. Almost directly west, a higher shelf hides Mirror Lake, hanging under the sheer upper ramparts of the canyon. Thick brush and scrub willows cover some of the lower slopes around the lake. Conifers are quite scarce, with only a few stunted weeping spruces, mountain hemlocks, red firs, and whitebark pines surviving in cracks and pockets in the granite. Fishing is no better in Sapphire Lake than in Emerald Lake, and only the hardiest swimmers will find the water warm enough for a brief, refreshing dip. A few very poor campsites have been scraped out in the rocks near the outlet, but firewood is nonexistent and there’s no place to adequately hang a bag of food.
OFF-TRAIL TO MIRROR LAKE
To reach Mirror Lake, you’ll first have to reach the west end of Sapphire Lake by heading 200 yards along a rough trail blasted and picked out of a cliff face on the north side of the lake. Beyond the cliff, the tread disintegrates into several paths that cross a seep and head up through thick brush. At this point you may begin to wonder if a better route climbs over the tumbled granite blocks on the south side of the lake. Either way is difficult, but most scramblers prefer the north side route—some of the blocks on the south side are as big as two-story houses.
On the north side of Sapphire Lake, work your way up to a shelf about 100 feet or more above the surface and push through the brush almost directly west, with traces of a boot-beaten, unmaintained path offering some shaky assurance that you’re on the right route. After about 0.5 mile, the brush thins a tad in a slide area about 300 or 400 yards from the lake, where ducks point north toward a pair of sheer-faced granite knobs. This route is passable, crossing below a waterfall on Mirror Lake’s outlet, and then scrambling around an outcrop and up a tilted ledge and a chimney to the lip of the shelf. However, a safer, although longer, route continues west to the north edge of a giant talus slope above the head of Sapphire Lake and boulder-hops up to the far end of a shelf holding Mirror Lake. Either route is very strenuous, but your first glimpse of exquisite Mirror Lake beyond the ridges of glaciated granite on the shelf will make the climb seem worthwhile.
From the open east edge of the shelf a sensational panorama unfolds, including the entire upper Stuart Fork Canyon. Emerald and Sapphire Lakes shimmer far below, with sheer canyon walls climaxing in Sawtooth Ridge to the north and Sawtooth Mountain to the south. Sunrises seen from this lofty perch can be truly inspirational.
The heavy use that prevails around the two lower lakes is rare at Mirror Lake, but please tread lightly here and leave no remnants of your presence. A few unprotected, fair campsites lie in the hollows of rock southeast of the lake. Although more trees seem able to survive up here than down at Sapphire Lake, firewood is extremely scarce and should not be used. Shallow pockets of the lake may be warm enough for swimming by mid-August afternoons, and 10-inch rainbows cruising the drop-offs near sunset will tempt anglers. Rock climbers should find the walls of the upper cirque challenging.
Mirror Lake certainly lives up to its name; soaring walls of granite on three sides, punctuated by dwarfed weeping spruce and mountain hemlock, and a perpetual snowfield above the west shore are stunningly reflected in the usually placid water. For thousands of years, slowly moving ice ground and gouged at the resistant granite shelf, leaving behind the polished mounds and ridges and the 12- to 15-acre lake with a convoluted shoreline and four small rock islands.
