Castle Lake

[Jason]

Anybody make it in to Castle recently? Looking at heading up in a couple weeks for an overnight trip. I haven’t been there there in years.

[jbeaumont21]

I've always wanted to try going there but have never done it.  I'm curious to see how your trip goes. Please keep us posted.

Thanks!
Jesse

[BeerBugler]

Take the trail, don’t just bail off from the road! I learned this the hard way. Fun lake unless the logs blow to the side your fishing!

[fireweed]

The official trail the USFS has on their maps is basically gone.  That people use as a trail now is the old road.  There was spray painting on a rock pointing out the road.

[Jason]

The official trail the USFS has on their maps is basically gone.  That people use as a trail now is the old road.  There was spray painting on a rock pointing out the road.

Is this road through all public land?

[Timberdog]

Just bail off from where you can see the lake. Way faster to get there than the road. Don't think about the hike out until your done fishing. Lol

[fireweed]

The official trail the USFS has on their maps is basically gone.  That people use as a trail now is the old road.  There was spray painting on a rock pointing out the road.

Is this road through all public land?

The road that is now a trail (non-motorized) is all on public land.  The route starts on Weyerhaeuser 4100 logging road off the South Toutle, but then hits DNR.  Follow main logging road that is not gated up to the 3000 line.  stay high on ridge until you see the lake below on right.  Look for rock with Castle Lake painted on it blocking an old road.  That's the best route.

[branches]

Good information. Thank you.

[Jason]

The official trail the USFS has on their maps is basically gone.  That people use as a trail now is the old road.  There was spray painting on a rock pointing out the road.

Is this road through all public land?

The road that is now a trail (non-motorized) is all on public land.  The route starts on Weyerhaeuser 4100 logging road off the South Toutle, but then hits DNR.  Follow main logging road that is not gated up to the 3000 line.  stay high on ridge until you see the lake below on right.  Look for rock with Castle Lake painted on it blocking an old road.  That's the best route.

Thanks for the info Fireweed 

[jbeaumont21]

The official trail the USFS has on their maps is basically gone.  That people use as a trail now is the old road.  There was spray painting on a rock pointing out the road.

Is this road through all public land?

The road that is now a trail (non-motorized) is all on public land.  The route starts on Weyerhaeuser 4100 logging road off the South Toutle, but then hits DNR.  Follow main logging road that is not gated up to the 3000 line.  stay high on ridge until you see the lake below on right.  Look for rock with Castle Lake painted on it blocking an old road.  That's the best route.

About how far is the hike?  Is it possible to make it in and out in a day? Thinking about heading there next week.

[CP]

It's only about 2 - 2.5 miles from the rock with the white paint on it.  Not a bad hike.

[jbeaumont21]

I spoke with a woman named April at Weyco and she sent me these maps on how to get to Castle Lake but its not making sense.  The red marked 4100 access corridor looks to be south of the South Toutle but the highlighted road to the lake is way north of the access point. Can anyone help me make sense of this?

[JoeVon]

PM sent

[Jason]

Heading into Castle this morning, hiking out tomorrow.

[jbeaumont21]

Awesome! I’m heading in Wednesday next week. Let me know how you do.

[Jason]

Castle Lake trip was fun. We left Vancouver at 4:30am. We made it to the parking spot and was hiking in by 7:45. Mother nature was not nice to us as it rained on us all the way in. It took us a little over two hours to hike into the south end of the lake. We spent most the afternoon drying out our clothes and hiking boots, I was glad I bought some cheap Crocks the night before. The weather got better later in the day on Saturday. As upset as I get about people leaving stuff behind we were equally as happy this time as someone built a lean-to structure with a blue tarp, kept us out of the rain until it stopped.
Fishing was okay, we caught about 15 fish but didn’t catch anything over 14” with most being in the 10-12” range. We seen two different heards of elk and one really nice cinnamon colored bear.
We hiked out Sunday, took us 3hrs 22min, 2.59 miles and 1680 feet of elevation gain.  As much of a good time as we had I would do this trip again but not anytime soon as I think there are better hike in lakes to fish.

[Jason]

More pictures

[jackelope]

Looks like a good trip. Used to be some hawg rainbows in there.

[Jason]

Looks like a good trip. Used to be some hawg rainbows in there.

That’s what I hear. Reports that I read before going in had me pretty much expecting fish on the smaller side. But I guess I was still holding out hope.

[jbeaumont21]

Looks like a good trip. Used to be some hawg rainbows in there.

That’s what I hear. Reports that I read before going in had me pretty much expecting fish on the smaller side. But I guess I was still holding out hope.

Did you guys pack in any rafts or did you just fish from shore?  Not that it would have made a huge difference from the sound of things.

I'm hoping they open Spirit some day.  From what I've read there are some big bows in there now.

[Jason]

Looks like a good trip. Used to be some hawg rainbows in there.

That’s what I hear. Reports that I read before going in had me pretty much expecting fish on the smaller side. But I guess I was still holding out hope.

Did you guys pack in any rafts or did you just fish from shore?  Not that it would have made a huge difference from the sound of things.

I'm hoping they open Spirit some day.  From what I've read there are some big bows in there now.

We almost bought pack rafts but stopped just short of buying them. We fished from shore, there is plenty of areas to access the water on the south end.

[elksnout]

Does a guy need the Weyco permit to access this?

Elksnout

[Jason]

Does a guy need the Weyco permit to access this?

Elksnout

No permit needed to access Castle Lake. Now if you want to access Weyco land for recreation purposes then you need the permit.