White River National Forest · Colorado

Skinny Fish Lake

3.1 mi of trail, end to end · native material surface · trail No. 1813 · trail class 3 · typical grade trail_grade · tread 18-24 inches wide · hiking, horse

Trailhead Skinny Fish #1813 Drive there

Skinny Fish #1813 the Forest Service's write-up

The Skinny Fish Trail begins with a steep climb and then enters a relatively flat meadow one mile above the trailhead. Lost Lakes Trail (#1812) branches to the left. The Skinny Fish Trail then follows Skinny Fish Creek through aspen, spruce, fir, and meadows (burned in the 2002 Big Fish Fire) for 1 mile to the junction where the McGinnis Lake Trail (#2213) branches to the east. There, the Skinny Fish Trail continues .5 miles to Skinny Fish Lake, and the McGinnis trail continues .7 miles to McGinnis Lake. Along the trail, the 600-1000' cliffs of the Chinese Wall are visible, forming the basin in which Skinny Fish and McGinnis Lakes lie. Both lakes offer good fishing.

This hike on fs.usda.gov

Every trail in White River National Forest

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About this trail's facts

The lines are the US Forest Service's National Forest System trails layer (public domain), read 2026-10-16 and simplified for the map; the length is the line's, end to end, and the class, surface, grade and tread width are the forest's own entries where it publishes them - a forest that publishes the centreline alone has none. The trailheads and the points along the way are the Service's recreation points, and the write-ups its own recarea text, unedited. Heights come from USGS 3DEP through Terrain Tiles on AWS (Mapzen/Tilezen), read along each line and rounded; a short trail on steep ground can be off by a few tens of feet. Closures change: check the forest's own site before you go.