Ridge Lakes Trail

Ridge Lakes Trail is a 2.2-mile out-and-back from the Sulphur Works parking area to two small alpine lakes between Brokeoff Mountain and Mount Diller. It gains about 1,000 feet and reaches roughly 8,000 feet, so it feels strenuous despite its short mileage. Allow about 1.5 to 2 hours. Published totals range from 2.0 to 2.2 miles; plan for the longer figure. The marked start is on the north side of the parking area by the restrooms. The maintained hike ends at the lake basin; the rough cross-country climb beyond it is a separate outing.

The trail starts in open growth, with ferns, grasses and wildflowers, and early glimpses down toward Sulphur Works and Sulphur Creek. It climbs a ridge between two forks of West Sulphur Creek, then steepens through switchbacks in patches of forest and open slope. The path follows a ravine toward the basin. Lower open slopes are dotted with mule's ears, Indian paintbrush, lupine and ferns; red fir, western white pine and mountain hemlock shade parts of the climb. In the open sections, look back toward Brokeoff Mountain, Mount Diller and the Mill Creek drainage; on clear days, the Sierra Nevada is also visible. There is little level ground to recover on, so the return descent still takes care on the steep tread.

The destination is a pair of small lakes tucked into a basin between Brokeoff and Diller. The route reaches the lakes and turns back along the same corridor; it does not make a loop around the basin. The lakes sit in a glacial cirque, a bowl shaped by ice against the volcanic slopes. In some years, the water bodies remain joined into late summer. This is a compact destination, not a long lakeshore circuit, so leave time to pause before retracing the climb.

Sulphur Works, beside the trailhead, is a hydrothermal area near the old central vent of Mount Tehama. Water moving through hot rock returns to the surface as steam and bubbling mud. Brokeoff Mountain is the highest remaining fragment of the much larger volcanic edifice after glacial erosion. The hike connects that active-looking ground at its start with the older, ice-carved basin above.