On a mild February day, we hiked up to the Ridge Lakes from Lac le Jeune. In most years we snowshoe up and back, waiting until tracks have been stomped in on the single track and snowmobiled on the double tracks. Over the last two years there has been considerable logging and firebreak work on the hill so some of the trail has been changed. The whole slope is populated with lodgepole pines, a result of former forest fires. The skinny trees are closely packed and prone to windfall. The trail from the end of Lac le Jeune Drive can only be done with volunteers cutting down and clearing the route of fallen trees. We hiked on microspikes. The route was packed down from snow melt conditions and the tracks of a few hikers/snowshoers. We used to use two single tracks to get over the hill but the upper trail has been obscured by the new firebreak work so we followed double tracks all the way to the lake. It was cloudy the whole way, but the sun appeared for a few minutes at the larger Ridge Lake. A few images and a map are shared here. Click an image for a lightbox view and a caption.
None of the area is signed, nor obvious. From the end of Lac le Jeune Road, a single track bears east, winding past two small marshes. At the end of the second marsh, a single track trail bears south up the hill. It is unsigned and easy to miss. It climbs to the firebreak. Continue along the firebreak, bearing southwest, then take a south bearing track to the smaller Ridge Lake. The larger lake is to the west. Return the way you came, following your own tracks. There are other hiking routes to Ridge Lakes in summer with a side trail to the top of Ridge Mountain. A link is provided below.
With the variable winter of 2023-2024 it looked like we wouldn’t get our annual snowshoe to Ridge Lakes, but we took the opportunity to hike up using microspikes instead.
A YouTube video features some of the moments of the hike:
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