Carpp Lake

Trail Details

Miles
6 Round Trip

Elevation Gain
555ft

Difficulty Level
Easy

Trailhead Coordinates
46.030805, -113.436345
* Google maps does not give accurate directions – do not rely on them! Reference these coordinates while looking at a road map.

Trail Description

Carpp Lake in the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness is an easy hike. Much of the surrounding area was badly burned from a fire initiated by a lightning strike in 2017. Although the area is pretty burnt, you do hike through a few sections of unscathed forests.

The trail starts out from the Upper Carpp Creek trailhead and begins descending down to Carpp Creek. After about a mile in you end up crossing the creek to an intersection. Follow the trail towards Carpp Lake. This section is still fairly lush being so close to water. Within a half-mile, you are led through a very burnt section filled with switchbacks where you gain most of the elevation. These burnt stretches can be very hot in the summer with all of the charred black remnants – bring sunscreen and lots of water! The burnt stretch is about .75-miles  long before reentering unscathed forests. From here you hike on a gradual ascent up to Lower Carpp Lake where you can continue on to Carpp Lake. There is an Upper Carpp Lake, but we did not visit it. The east side of the lake is still pretty green and has a few nice campsites, however, most of the west side is very burnt. The last picture in the slideshow above is a great visual to show the burnt and unburnt divide.