Jug Lake (7/2/16)

[Sedro23]

Went to Jug lake last Saturday.  The trail was pretty good overall as far as fishermen trails go.  Saw a sow and a cub across Arrow creek about a quarter of the way up the trail.  There was flagging tape throughout but we did loose it a couple times where there had been noticeable blow down between the time the tape went up and when I was hiking. About halfway through you reach a long rock slide.  Its a fun but tiresome rock scramble for about .5-.75 miles Also the creek is still high which in turn makes lower jug lake high.  This caused us a little headache as we first decided to cross the lower end of the lake to start up the hill towards upper Jug lake.  This was doable but a little sketchy (one of the party slipped and fell in the creek).  On the way back we decided to just cross the lake in the shin deep shallows. 

Jug lake itself was really nice.  Lots of good areas for camping and the fishing was very promising even though I only caught one medium sized cutthroat. I only fished the corner next to the big rock slide because of time restraints, so I bet if you spent a little more time doing the whole loop you would stumble upon some really good holes.  I will definitely try and make a trip back in the near future.

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

Good report!

[saylean]

Pretty lake! Reminds me a lot of Scout lake.

[Boss .300 winmag]

Bucket lister for me, nice pics. 

[seth30]

   What type of fish are in that lake?    How long did it take overall to get to the lake?  Thank you for sharing the pictures!

[buglebuster]

That's not the same jug lake I've hiked into lol

[seth30]

There appears to be two of them in the state

[SWHUNTER]

Good trip.
We used to hike in there and camp when I was in highschool. It was pretty good fishing then, but seemed to fall off a little after that. The fish were skinny cutthroat with big heads. We saw an otter swimming in the lake one time.

[seth30]

Sedro how was the fishing for you up there? 

[Smokepole]

Nice trip report.  I've never been to jug, but I passed the trail quite a few times.  Sure looks perty.   

[Sedro23]

Seth30 - Fishing was pretty good, definitely a lot of action on the surface.  We only had time to fish for a little bit but I caught a nice 8-10" cutthroat, which according to some things I've been reading could have been whats been called a Montana Black spot, a cutthroat subspecies.  It had some of the black freckles you see in pictures, but I'm not completely sure. Also the fly's we were using didn't seem to be hitting right, I think if you had something along the lines of a black caddis you would do really well because something similar was flying around everywhere.

 Overall all it took us about 3ish hours to get to the lake and about 2.5 to get back.  I think if you're charging the trail you could do it much quicker (2hrs up).  We also lost the trail a few times and one of the group had a hell of a time bush wacking through the salmon berry's (just not used to it I guess). It's really not that long of a trail and not that much elevation gain, just lots of rock scrambles, salmon berry thickets, and sometimes its easy to lose the trail.

I would recommend it for a day hike or a 2 day overnight just so you would have time to fish the whole lake, I didn't have time to fish the far end of the lake, but I had a feeling it was pretty solid because it looked like the lake dropped off a lot faster from the shore on that side. I don't think I would stay up there more then one night though just because your kind of limited by your surroundings on what to do.

[seth30]

Seth30 - Fishing was pretty good, definitely a lot of action on the surface.  We only had time to fish for a little bit but I caught a nice 8-10" cutthroat, which according to some things I've been reading could have been whats been called a Montana Black spot, a cutthroat subspecies.  It had some of the black freckles you see in pictures, but I'm not completely sure. Also the fly's we were using didn't seem to be hitting right, I think if you had something along the lines of a black caddis you would do really well because something similar was flying around everywhere.

 Overall all it took us about 3ish hours to get to the lake and about 2.5 to get back.  I think if you're charging the trail you could do it much quicker (2hrs up).  We also lost the trail a few times and one of the group had a hell of a time bush wacking through the salmon berry's (just not used to it I guess). It's really not that long of a trail and not that much elevation gain, just lots of rock scrambles, salmon berry thickets, and sometimes its easy to lose the trail.

I would recommend it for a day hike or a 2 day overnight just so you would have time to fish the whole lake, I didn't have time to fish the far end of the lake, but I had a feeling it was pretty solid because it looked like the lake dropped off a lot faster from the shore on that side. I don't think I would stay up there more then one night though just because your kind of limited by your surroundings on what to do.

That is good the lake is holding fish   I will be back in the states this year and will have to check it out.  Will be using a GPS system so hopefully that makes it a bit easier to find   With all the rock climbing and the size of the lake I think a overnighter would be warranted.  Did you see any established campsites?  Thank you for the insight in all of this!

[Sedro23]

Glad I can help, there are some established camping areas near the outlet of the lake, the best area we saw was near the outlet right in the corner right before the big rock slide begins. Its an openish spot with a fire pit, close to the lake so access is pretty easy.  GPS isn't a bad idea, main thing to remember is to stay on the right side of the valley until you get to lower jug lake/pond.  Then from there you might be able to spot the tape across the way on the right side of the boulder field.  From there its a little ways up the hill and your there, its easy to lose the trail, if you do try and stay in the trees and you'll probably pick it up again. Much easier then fighting through 8ft tall brush.

[seth30]

Glad I can help, there are some established camping areas near the outlet of the lake, the best area we saw was near the outlet right in the corner right before the big rock slide begins. Its an openish spot with a fire pit, close to the lake so access is pretty easy.  GPS isn't a bad idea, main thing to remember is to stay on the right side of the valley until you get to lower jug lake/pond.  Then from there you might be able to spot the tape across the way on the right side of the boulder field.  From there its a little ways up the hill and your there, its easy to lose the trail, if you do try and stay in the trees and you'll probably pick it up again. Much easier then fighting through 8ft tall brush.

Do you mean stay on the right side of arrow creek until you get to the lake?  If its that much bush whacking I may stay in the timber

[Labs07]

Where is Jug Lake?