Ky & Cedes Gorham

Ky & Cedes Gorham

Hike to Loon Lake

07/31/18

A group of 8 of us just hiked this loop a couple of days ago. We went down on the West side of the loop (right of the trailhead) and came back up along the Secesh River on the East side of the loop. The hike was fun, moderate, not hard at all but I was disappointed to see so many burned down trees. Although we still enjoyed the hike it would have been breathtaking before the fire destroyed most of the area in the late 2000s. The West side of the loop was very hot and dusty with little shade but the East side along the river was much nicer. We camped at a great beach spot in front of the lake the first night and hiked to see the 23 Bomber which was pretty neat. The hike to the Bomber was easy although we had to climb over burned down logs most of the way. There was also water crossing to it so bring water shoes or climb over a large log. It's easier to hike to the Bomber by taking a right from the campground in front of the lake since we heard the left side was very marshy and wet. The second day we found a hidden Hot Springs called Secesh hotsprings. It was quite a climb up the mountain along the spring but breathtaking once up above. We almost gave up trying to find it but we just kept going up almost to the top of the mountain... There were 2-3 decent size pools but pretty dirty although we cleaned one and enjoyed it. The second night we camped on an awesome beach spot with white sand by the Secesh River. This spot was to the right of the bridge off the Secesh R Trail towards Whangdoodle Trail. About a mile off that trail we crossed the river to find the hotsprings and the beach camp spot was about a half mile back from there. The hotsprings was before the Whangdoodle Trail. Overall we had a spectacular time although I wish I would have known about the burned down trees the entire hike...

4.0