Baker Lake Trail

Baker Lake Trail is an out-and-back from Baker Creek Trailhead to a small lake high in the South Snake Range. The National Park Service lists 10.4 miles round trip, 2,610 feet of climbing, a strenuous rating and 5–10 hours. Mileage varies: the mapped path measures about 5.67 miles each way, and another route account totals 11.6 miles. Use the park's figure as the official estimate, but leave room for a longer return. The trail starts near 8,020 feet and reaches roughly 10,600 feet, so altitude adds to the work. Plan most of a day rather than treating this as a quick lake walk.

The trailhead is at the end of gravel Baker Creek Road. Use the marked parking spaces; parking along the road or outside designated spaces is prohibited. There are pit toilets without running water, but no potable water along the road or hike. The Lehman Caves Visitor Center is a separate stop with water; fill up before driving out. The park advises carrying about a gallon per person for a day. Pets are prohibited on park trails except trained service animals. A free backcountry permit is needed only for overnight camping. Baker Creek Road can close in winter or early spring, so check access before setting out.

Several routes leave from the same trailhead. Stay on the Baker Lake route at the early splits; at about 1.6 miles, keep right where Baker Creek Loop branches away. The path starts among pines, then threads through creekside meadows and aspens. It crosses a tributary and climbs into open, sage-covered slopes before returning toward the creek. Expect several crossings of Baker Creek and smaller streams, with damp meadow ground in places. The route alternates between shade and exposed switchbacks rather than climbing steadily through one kind of forest.

The upper climb gets steeper and thinner on trees. After the main creek crossings, a long set of switchbacks carries the trail toward 10,000 feet and above. Recent reports describe the last mile and a half as harder to follow than the lower trail, so pay attention to the main tread, especially where smaller paths appear. Near the lake, a steep, rocky route climbs toward a saddle and Johnson Lake. For Baker Lake, continue straight to the shore; that Johnson Lake extension is a separate, longer route, not part of this out-and-back.

Baker Lake sits in a glacial cirque, a steep-sided basin carved by ice, beneath Baker and Pyramid peaks. Bare rock and talus ring much of the water, with conifers on the lower slopes and snow often lingering along the rocky shore. The lake is the payoff and the turnaround, so leave time to pause before retracing the same route. As the view opens on the final approach, frame the water with the surrounding rock and trees to show the scale of the basin.

The creek corridor, wet meadows and lake margins support changing seasonal color. Trail accounts note lupine and other meadow flowers, including Nevada bitterroot near muddy lake edges; blooms depend on the season and snowmelt. The lake itself is described as primarily snowmelt-fed, so its shoreline and water level can change through summer. Do not count on finding potable water here or along the trail.

This lake has also been part of park conservation work. The National Park Service reports a multi-year effort to remove non-native trout stocked before the park existed, as part of work supporting recovery of native Bonneville cutthroat trout. A separate park overview does not establish the lake's current fish status, so treat this as restoration history rather than a promise of what you will see.