Thomas Lake Trail #111

Thomas Lake Trail #111 is a long-distance hiking route in Indian Heaven Wilderness within Gifford Pinchot National Forest, southwest Washington. It’s an easy-leaning option through a network of named sub-alpine lakes, with the trail also connecting to the Pacific Crest Trail corridor.

A common way to run the route is as a short out-and-back centered on Thomas Lake (often described around 3–4 miles), or expanded into longer multi-lake loops that extend the hike toward other named lake areas such as Blue Lake and Sahalee Tyee Lake (one loop variant is often described around 8.5 miles).

The mapped trail is signed for hiking (horse allowed) and is built on a ground surface typical of Indian Heaven’s meadow-and-forest transitions, rather than an engineered tread type.

Route conditions are shaped by wilderness access rules: a Northwest Forest Pass (or recreation equivalent) is needed for parking, and wilderness permits are self-issued at the trailhead. Camping is restricted to designated campsites in the Indian Heaven Wilderness lake basin zone.

On the ground, the trail pattern is meadow walking punctuated by forest segments and lake approaches. Along the way you pass a sequence of named lakes in the Indian Heaven cluster—commonly including Dee Lake, Thomas Lake, Lake Kwaddis, Heather Lake, Eunice Lake, and Dee Lake spurs depending on the exact loop you choose.

Blue Lake options tie into this same trail network: one popular interpretation of the Thomas Lake Trail #111 route reaches Blue Lake and continues onward to lake-country junctions before returning via the same general corridors and, in some loop versions, tying back to the Pacific Crest Trail.

More information: Visitor information, Visitor information, Multi-Lake Hike Along Thomas Lake Trail #111