This bridge across Trapper Creek has been removed by the Forest Service.
Soda Peaks Lake is the only lake in the small Trapper Creek Wilderness, which is in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, about 10 miles north of Carson in the central Columbia River Gorge area. The lake is at the southern edge of the wilderness and is about 3600 feet in altitude. I have another page which covers the rest of the wilderness area.
There are two routes to the lake and this page consists of two trips, one by each route. The longer and harder hike starts at the lower eastern trailhead and gains about 2500 feet in two and a half miles. I did this trail as a dayhike in the early summer of 2007. Another page has another report on a trip with great fall conditions.
The second route comes from the back side. You drive up a paved but narrow road to the trailead where the pavement ends. It is about two miles in, 800 feet up and 800 feet down, over the ridge, to the lake. I did this trip as an overnight backpack in late October.
Dayhike from Government Springs trailhead. Note that the tree on the right is growing straight out of the end of the log below.
This bridge across Trapper Creek has been removed by the Forest Service.
Backpacking trip from high trailhead
