Grouse Ridge Trail

This trail heads from Eagle Lakes to Sawmill Lake winding through the Grouse Lakes area. At the north end, the trail crosses the spillway of the dam at Sawmill Lake, which may be impassable due to high water in Canyon Creek (in the spring and early summer). Starting from Eagle Lakes, a footbridge takes you across Fordyce Creek, a rather large stream where fishing is often good when flows are not too high. From Fordyce Creek, the trail continues to climb through scattered timber, bush and rocky knolls to the junctions with the Spaulding Lake and Beyers Lakes Trails. Continuing on from Eagle Lakes, you'll come to Grouse Ridge Road just south of the campground, and at this point you'll already have gained about 2000 feet in elevation. From the campground the trail continues north and views of the entire area are excellent - you can see Downey and Sanford Lakes to the east and Milk Lake lies just off the trail to the west. Follow the trail along Grouse Ridge and then around Milk Lake. Past Milk Lake, you'll come upon Round Lake which is a great camping or swimming spot! Fishing is good in all three of these lakes. After about 2 miles of hiking through timber, you'll come across Middle Lake (which is sometimes so shallow its a meadow). Continuing north, you emerge from the timber at Shotgun Lake which is no longer a lake, but now a wet meadow or grassy pond. The trail then descends along a timbered slope to its endpoint at Sawmill Lake and the South Fork of Canyon Creek.