Three Lakes Valley Trail

Three Lakes Valley is a hard 7.6-mile (12.2-km) out-and-back from Chester Lake Day Use, with about 1,870 feet (570 m) of climbing. Allow around five hours. The route climbs through forest and an alpine basin to three small tarns beneath Gusty Peak and Mount Galatea, then returns by the same corridor. Choose it for a longer, less obvious extension; the Chester Lake shore alone makes a much shorter 5.7-mile (9.2-km) return.

The first 2 km follows a forested old logging road. Clearings around 2.2 and 3.9 km open views toward Mount Chester and its braided streams. At Chester Lake, cross the log bridge; about 60 m beyond it, take the left branch climbing away from the water; the right branch continues around the shoreline and stays on the shorter lake walk. Elephant Rocks are about 300 m beyond the fork, followed by a stream and rocky shelf on the climb to the first blue-green tarn.

Above the first lake, the worn tread thins across rocky ground; cairns guide the continuation toward the other tarns. The last lake is small and set among talus beneath Gusty Peak and Mount Galatea. Keep track of the cairns and turn back if the route disappears. The saved distance follows the connected corridor to the upper lake and back. Published totals range from about 12.4 to 15.6 km because the endpoint is not standardized; walking farther across the basin or to the cairned lookout adds distance.

The larch-covered slope turns gold in mid-to-late September. Elephant Rocks are an unusual cluster of boulders beside the route. The first tarn reflects the west face of Gusty Peak; for a photo, include shoreline rocks in the foreground to anchor the scale of the mountain. Beyond the lake, the view opens across Smith-Dorrien Summit toward the glaciated Continental Divide.