Russet Lake
- Corey Green
- Aug 15, 2025
- 3 min read
Updated: Jun 27
Russet Lake
8/11/25-8/12/25
25.4km +606 elevation gain and –2081 elevation loss
My first overnight backpacking trip of the season. I can’t believe it’s already August and I still had yet to spend a night out. Long overdue. Compared to the last seven summers working as a Wilderness Ranger where I spent every week out.
It’s been a busy start to the summer for me including moving twice.
I knew I wanted to camp at Russet Lake to photograph the sunrise and sunset. I also really wanted to climb Overlord Mountain which is 5.4km past Russet Lake with an elevation gain of +863m and loss of -179m. Overlord Mountain is one of the mountains in the area which has been closely monitored for glacial research. I have also read that there are mountain goats up there.
Lila and I took the Whistler chairlift to the summit and started the hike from there. We walked down the service road, around Symphony chair, and over to the summit of Flute.
It took a little over an hour to reach the summit of Flute. From here you can see the Keyes and Claire hut which sits on the ridge above Russet Lake.
The ridge fooled me as I thought it would be a straight shot to the hut staying high on the ridge.
From this vantage point it is hard to see that the ridge drops and reclimbs several times.I guess that's why they call the trail musical bumps. The trail did have a sound of music vibe to it. Similar to my old stomping grounds on Copper Ridge getting to the fire lookout.
We made it to Russett Lake in about three hours. The horse flies and heat were brutal on the way in and at the lake. I immediately went for a swim to cool off.
Once at camp we quickly got setup and ended up falling asleep in the tent for an hour. We then went to the creek to get water. However, both our water filters were clogged. I’ve been using the Katadyn Befree filter for several years and never had an issue.
I tried cleaning it out a bit and was able to get a small flow of filtered water out of it. Feeling sus on the integrity of the filter we opted to filter and boil our water.
The next morning, we ran out of fuel from boiling all our water. Between the heat and lack of water we opted to bail on climbing Overlord. I will be back for it! Possibly as a fast and light day trip.
I also recommend taking Singing Pass down to the village versus taking the gondola back down. Despite the trail being 2km longer, it is all downhill and forested. Having to re-climb up the musical bumps in the heat looked brutal and I'm happy we opted to take
Singing Pass last minute.
Leave No Trace Notes: Russet Lake has a bear hang wire to hang your food from. You need to bring your own sack to hang the food in.
Remember that everything scented goes in a bear hang including: toothpaste, sunscreen, chapstick, and food dehydrated or not.
Before swimming in any alpine lake try to wipe yourself down from any suncreen or bugspray you may be wearing. This keeps drinking water clean and studies have shown algae blooms induced by sunscreen in alpine lakes.
My favorite photographs I've captured this season are from Russet Lake.
Enjoy:
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