Redding: Albert Lakes via PCT
This 9.6-mile overnight in the Russian Wilderness is pine-studded, alpine lake-riddled, and in-your-dreams beautiful.
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©Leon Nelson
©Leon Nelson
©Leon Nelson
©Leon Nelson
©Leon Nelson
©Leon Nelson
Trail Facts
- Distance: 7.7
Waypoints
ALT001
Location: 41.3263931274414, -122.976066589355
Go E up gully toward headwaters of Music Creek
ALT002
Location: 41.3259048461914, -122.966575622559
L @ 4-way onto Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). In the E, Mt. Shasta’s snowy crown stands above lower peaks
ALT003
Location: 41.3310012817383, -122.966789245605
Reach saddle and contour high above Lipstick Lake
ALT004
Location: 41.3367004394531, -122.963905334473
Ford streamlet of North Fork
ALT005
Location: 41.3413238525391, -122.955078125
Drop over ridge and hike NW
ALT006
Location: 41.3438873291016, -122.959632873535
White cliffs and giant pines hem in Paynes Lake, a great spot to photograph a summer sunrise. Ford outlet creek and climb 450 ft. WNW to alpine bench with two more lakes
ALT007
Location: 41.3443984985352, -122.968505859375
Lower Albert Lake: There’s a one-tent campsite on SE peninsula. Or continue SW on off-trail route linking cairns to next lake
ALT008
Location: 41.3422622680664, -122.972053527832
Shaped like a giant blue horseshoe, Upper Albert Lake offers good fishing, sweet swimming holes, and a nice camp spot on the forested peninsula
ALT009
Location: 41.3434982299805, -122.975959777832
Side trip: Climb 300 ft. to the high saddle for more photo-worthy spreads of the sheer granite headwall of Big Blue Lake, Scott Valley, and camp. When ready, retrace route to trailhead
Big Blue and Scenic Views
Location: 41.3432197570801, -122.975891113281
From the saddle, scope long-range vistas over to Snoozer Ridge. ©Leon Nelson
Paynes Lake Alpenglow
Location: 41.3436393737793, -122.959671020508
The rocky headwall of Paynes Lake reflects a pink-grapefruit sunrise onto still, early-morning waters. ©Leon Nelson
Upper Albert Lake
Location: 41.3417778015137, -122.973213195801
The distinct horseshoe-shaped Upper Albert Lake from the ridgeline above. Snag the primo campsite on the forested peninsula for a five-star stay. ©Leon Nelson
Snowy Shasta from the Russian Wilderness
Location: 41.342586517334, -122.97339630127
©Leon Nelson
Lower Albert Lake
Location: 41.3448257446289, -122.968887329102
NE views to the blonde hills of the Scott Valley above the forested confines of Lower Albert Lake. The rocky peninsula on E shore has room for one tent. ©Leon Leson
Paynes Lake Before Sunrise
Location: 41.3437232971191, -122.959266662598
View across Paynes Lake to the grayscale granite wall below the sharp spires of unnamed peak 7,813. Only a two-hour hike from the Music Creek Trailhead. ©Leon Nelson