Bartlett Lake Trail

This one starts innocently enough — you'll follow the Bartlett River Trail through dense Sitka spruce rainforest, boots squelching on the perpetually damp trail, before the route branches off and the real adventure begins. The climb up the glacial moraine is where things get interesting: moss-slicked boulders demand careful foot placement, and the forest thins into something wilder and more primeval. You're essentially bushwhacking through Southeast Alaska's version of a fairy tale — everything draped in emerald moss, the air thick with the smell of wet earth. When Bartlett Lake finally reveals itself, tucked beneath steep valley walls with glacier-carved cirques above, the payoff is the kind of solitude most people only find in backcountry permit zones. This trail rewards hikers who don't mind route-finding and wet feet in exchange for having a glacial lake entirely to themselves.