What Makes a Hike Awesome: Deadfall Lakes and Mt. Eddy

Any day on the trail is a good day. Still some days, and some of the hikes do stand out as better than others, and it's made us wonder, what makes a hike awesome.

1. The trail has got to be long enough to really stretch the legs.
2. Wildflowers and big trees
3. Lakes and streams
4. Views
5. Micro-climates and ecosystem variations
6. Cool, considerate hikers
7. Moderate weather

All the trails we've hiked have had some combination of these elements but so far only one hike has had them all in spades: the hike to Mt. Eddy, past the Deadfall Lakes in the Shasta-Trinity Forest of Northern California.

Sure, there have been great wildflowers hikes like the Teton Canyon Trail in Idaho and the Manzanita Creek Trail in Lassen Volcanic National Park, hikes to awesome vistas, again in Lassen to Chaos Crags, as well as the Tetons and Elk Ridge in the Smith River Recreation Area. The cirque at Devil's Punchbowl can't be beat as an awesome mountain lake.

But the hike to Mt. Eddy? 10 miles and 3000 ft of elevation gain through multiple ecosystems, wildflower meadows, alpine meadows, mountain lakes, and awesome views in almost every direction. All our encounters with hikers, lots of thru-hikers on the PCT, other day hikers like ourselves, were fun and informative.  It is always nice to stop for a minute or two to chat about the trail, where they were going, etc.

The pictures will tell the rest of the story.