Hinman Creek Trail

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Features Lake · Views · Wildflowers

There's an established Hinman Creek Trailhead off of Seedhouse Road, or you can start at the other end, just off Forest Road 409, as mapped.

The trail as mapped was used to create a loop as part of the North Fork to Coulton Creek shuttle, but there are several options in this area. Starting from 409, look for a sign for Hinman Creek. Some maps show Scott's Run, but we only saw signs for Hinman Park / Hinman Creek. It's immediately apparent that this trail isn't heavily traveled. You get the sense right from the start that you're getting into an adventure.

The first part of the trail heading this direction starts with a boggy area with muddy stream crossings. The trail is overgrown a bit, but never hard to follow. It's hard not to look around you - the scenery is incredible with Hinman Lake on your left, a maze of burned trees still standing, and whistling when the wind blows, and generally green and lush looking ground cover.

You'll climb up quite a bit over a rocky knoll. The trail here is loose with big rocks scattered. Descend back down from the rocky section, and you're back in meadow that was once thicker forest before the burn. At the time of this writing, there were MANY downed trees along the way.

Work your way along the trail on a mostly flat section until you start to descend to the most significant creek crossing of the run. In early summer, it can be quite deep; you won't want to linger here because the mosquitos are awful in this section! They're not bad along most of the trail, but for about a mile on either side of the creek, they're intense.

As the trail climbs up away from the creek, and the trail becomes a steep ascent. For the rest of the trail, you'll pop in and out of fairly thick, unburned forest. The scenery continues to be fantastic the whole way along this trail with deep greens and white aspens, and plenty of wildflowers.

You'll come to an intersection with Cutover Trail. Take a right to meet up with Coulton Creek Trail, or stay straight to get to Hinman TH and Seedhouse Road.