The headwaters of Hinchwood Creek.

Photo was taken at an elevation of about 5,000 feet from the ridge east of the Hinchwood Creek drainage facing the east slope of Baldy Mountain.

Cabin Lake

Yesterday a friend and I hiked to Cabin Lake, one of the many cirque lakes in the Cube Iron/Silcox roadless area in the Plains/Thompson Falls District of the Lolo National Forest here in western Montana. Following are photos of the trail and, of course, the lake itself which sits at about 6,000 feet.

The destination, Cabin Lake

In several places along the road to the trail head, which follows the west fork of Thompson River, it was necessary to build retaining walls to keep the rock slides from covering the road.

At the trail head, this bridge for foot and horse traffic spans the stream that issues from the lake. It is very welcome because the stream would be very difficult to ford.

Along the bottom part of the trail it is covered by the golden leaves of Black cottonwoods; the “Yellow brick road”.

A smaller stream which is fortunately fordable without going over the top of hiking boots crosses the trail.

The lake sits in a glacier-formed recession just above and to the right of the cliffs in the background.

From the middle part of the trail you can see the mountainside that slopes down to the trail head.

The trail tops out in a saddle, then descends down to the lake which sits just below the peak in the distance.

This and the remaining photos are of the lake itself.