United States · US

Devils Pass Lake

Devils Pass Lake is a small alpine tarn resting at nearly 3,000 feet in the Kenai Mountains of south-central Alaska, about ten miles of hard climbing up the Devil's Creek Trail from the Seward Highway. Roughly fifteen acres of cold water cradled in a broad valley floor, it is the kind of reward you only discover by earning it on foot. What makes this lake special is its setting and its solitude. By the time you crest out of the forest and follow the trail steeply upward through a spectacular V-shaped valley, the world opens into tundra country above treeline. The lake fills the valley floor just beyond Devil's Pass, with the rugged face of Gilpatrick Mountain rising to the east and sweeping alpine views all around. Hikers who have made the trip describe barely seeing anyone else on the trail.