Lightning Lake
View wildflower meadows and turquoise lakes on this day hike.
- Location: Boulder-White Clouds
- Status: Proposed Wilderness
- Distance: 5.8 miles round trip; section one-way is 1.2 miles
- Elevation: 1,100 ft.
- Difficulty: Moderate
- Maps: Sawtooth National Forest, SNRA, Ketchum & Fairfield District; USGS Washington Peak
- More information: Trails of the Sawtooth and White Cloud Mountains
Begin your hike at the trailhead. At 0.1 mile, the trail crosses the Phyllis Lake jeep trail. Continue to hike up the jeep trail until you reach a split in the track.
Keep to the right fork of the split and walk through the gate located 0.2 mile away. Continue on the footpath past the roofless log cabin and turn right down into a meadow. At 0.4 mile, you see a creek in the meadow. Turn left at this creek and climb a small stream to a bog. Circle the bog on the right to the outlet of Thunder Lake. Hike up the outlet on the left and continue through the grass and rocks until you reach an amber-colored pond. From here, hike west around the pond and continue up the right side of the amber pond’s inlet. At 1.2 miles, you reach Lightning Lake.
Directions
From Ketchum, drive north on Highway 75 for 44.6 miles. Turn right on Fourth of July Creek Road and drive an additional 10.2 miles to the trailhead.
