I assume this lake is called Coffin Lake because of it’s shape but I couldn’t find anything on the internet about it. We started this ride on the gravel rode at Fisherman’s Point on the banks of Hebgen Lake. This way we could get a nice warm up before hitting the singletrack climb. However, you could start your adventure at the Watkins Creek Trailhead to shorten the ride by about 7 miles. Our out and back ride was 17.6 miles with 2168′ of climbing up to a highpoint of 8450′. Once again, we didn’t see any humans.
The gravel road warm up of 3.5 miles went by pretty quickly since it’s fairly flat. We crossed over Watkins Creek and turned left to get to the Watkins Creek Trailhead. The singletrack is beautiful from the start as it heads out across the meadow dotted with sage and wildflowers. The first couple miles climbs pretty gently away from the lake. The upper part is very different from the lower part of the trail. After a few switchbacks the trail got pretty rocky and rooty and was more black diamond level stuff.
Coffin Lake comes into view from the east side and the trail gets very slight for another tenth of a mile or so. We rode down to the shore and relaxed in solitude. Nobody. Like Sheep Lake that we rode to last week, this high alpine lake has a dramatic backdrop and the rugged beauty of the area is on full display. We were pretty happy to bomb back down, especially the upper part that is technical.
Back along Lake Hebgen we enjoyed lunch and headed back to camp. What a great little adventure.
I am wondering if this is the Heidi that used to live in Madison, WI while she worked on a Masters Degree in Environmental Toxicology (doing research in Duluth, MN; not her favorite place…). If so this is Steve Holmgren (sholmgren@montana.edu).
Nope, I’ve never been to Wisconsin!