06/01/2026
The Trinity Alps is a somewhat lesser known mountain range in the northern part of our state, which means you have a better chance of finding solitude than in its big sister range to the southeast, the Sierra Nevada. The glaciated granitic and peridotite peaks offer an abundance of lakes and a striking diversity of plant species. As a subrange of the Klamath Mountains, plants from the Sierra, Cascade and Coast Ranges all converge here.
We visited the collection of lakes known as Big Bear, Little Bear and Wee Bear, some of the many bear named lakes in the region, not to mention the state!
Despite the stunning landscape, we didn’t see another soul on the trail.
The main down side to hiking this area in the warm season is the heat. Despite the montane appearance, the elevations are much lower than the more southerly Sierra, so they can get quite hot.