The Benson Lake Loop

Morning alpine-glow lights up the slopes cliffs of the north-west shore of Benson Lake.

Morning at Benson Lake

The Benson Lake Loop, August 2002

Day 6: Tuesday, September 3nd, ~12+ miles, ~2700+ feet gain, 666 feet loss

The morning dawned clear and windy, and if it is windy in the morning, it means something is up, and it won't be good. It did not take me long to get my things together and hit the trail.

Point 9470 above the beach of Benson Lake in morning light.

Another good reason for going in the direction I was going on this loop hike was just ahead. In any direction for getting out of the Benson Lake basin, the hiker was in for a climb. I already knew that the long hike just to Smedberg Lake was 3.8 miles and 2135 feet of climbing with 409 feet of loss thrown in for good measure. To get to Benson Pass, it is 5.9 miles, 3111 feet of gain and 545 feet of loss. Those are long hard miles. But going the other direction going to the trail junction in Kerrick Canyon over Seavey Pass, it is only 3 miles with 1651 feet of gain and a loss (at the end mostly) of 329 feet. Better yet, to get to the first rest, watering and swimming spot of the first lake, it was only 1.9 miles of 1415 feet of gain, leaving only a little more that another 200 feet of gain to go for less than a mile. I could sleepwalk that far.