Although I have only been to Stevens Lakes once, I hope to get back there again.   It can be done in one long day, but it also takes some preparation.   I was lucky enough to have hired a fishing guide who took us in for the day.   I remember the long back road route, then the long hike in.   We went in and out in a single long day, but if I return, I’d prefer to backpack in and spend at least one night at the lakes.   I would do this after the bug season because both the route in and the lakes area is low-lying and wet.   I will bring fishing gear because everyone will catch his/her limit at this remote spot.   Preparation is required to figure out the best route in.   We used the backroad system going up the Raft River Forest Road (Rd. 9), then the Raft-Ritchie Forest Road and continued on for a total of 51 km before parking at a high and remote spot.   Detailed descriptions for this route are found in Roland Neave’s Exploring Wells Gray Park.

Today, Wells Gray Provincial Park advertises a route that goes up the Flank of Trophy Mountain, then winds around the back and over to the West Raft Creek Road past Skeeter Lake.   My assumption is that since this route is within the park, it is signed.   That exploration is yet to come.   Google Earth shows this route and hopefully it is quicker and better marked than the traditional route.

When we went to Stevens Lakes we enjoyed the gentle trail (downhill) into the lake.   Canoes are left at the campground at South Stevens Lakes for use so we paddled out and started fishing.   We had each caught our limit in 30 minutes and fish were jumping all over the lake.    This would be a quiet and pleasant camping spot for one or two nights.

Stevens Lakes sits in Indian Valley, a wet area between Battle Mountain and Murtle Lake.   All three of these areas are special in their own right and deserve to be explored more than once.