Barrett Lake 4×4 Trail Review

Quick Info — Trail Map — GPX/KML Files — Trail Review — Obstacles — Points of Interest

Barrett Lake 4×4 Trail Quick Info:

Difficulty (1-10): 6-8 (35″ Tires and a Rear Locker Preferred)
Distance: 6 Miles
Apprx. Travel Time: 4 Hours
Type of Trail: In and Out, Rock Crawling
Directions to TrailHead: Directions on Google Maps
Governing Authority: El Dorado National Forest
Sponsoring Club: Hi Landers
Typical Operating Season: July 15 – Oct 31 (check with Governing Authority to ensure trail is open)
Last Fuel Stop: Chevron Fresh Pond
Closest Starbucks for JK Owners: It’s the last one!
Ham Radio Repeaters: N6ICW 147.195+ pl 123.0, KA6GWY 146.805- pl 123, AG6AU 147.825- pl 82.5
Fire Permits: Help Prevent Wild Fires!
Last Updated: 8/1/18

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Barrett Lake 4×4 Trail GPX and KML/KMZ Files

We personally prefer Gaia GPS for all of our trail mapping needs. Get a membership (20% off for My Off Road Radio readers if you follow this link!), and then you can either upload one of the files below into your Gaia account, or click on this link here and save our public Gaia GPS Folder to your own folders. Then go hit the trails!

Barrett Lake 4×4 Trail GPX File

Barrett Lake 4×4 Trail KML/KMZ File

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Barrett Lake 4×4 Trail Review

Barrett Lake 4×4 Trail is a fantastic off road rock crawling trail. It has a gate that guards the trail and doesn’t open until 30 days after less than an inch of snow is measured at a nearby measurement site. The gate measures 85.75 inches from post to post. We have seen rigs with 90″ track widths be able to air down and squeeze through. Anything more and you won’t make it. Please do not drive over the gate posts. This damages the posts and makes us use OHV funds to repair a gate rather than offer oil spill kits or wag bags to everyone.

The entire trail is a nice, relatively quick ride. A minimally geared rig should be able to go do the trail in under 5 hours. Better geared rigs will be able to shoot through in about 2.5 hours. It takes us in the 4Runner with 37″ tires, lockers front and rear, and dual cases roughly 3 hr and 15min on average.

The quick nature of the trail makes this an excellent option for day trips or overnight trips. If anything does happen to your rig, it is a nice 2.5-3 hour hike out to find help. That, combined with the great ham radio repeater coverage, make this trail difficult enough to get away from crowds, but still able to stay within contact of help if needed.

Along the trail are 3 difficult sections. One occurs about 60 feet up the trail from the gate called the Gate Keeper. The 2nd, S Turn, will appear roughly half way up the trail. And the 3rd will show itself right near the end, maybe 1/4 mile before the lake.

Once at the lake, you are treated with enough space to comfortably fit around 15-20 vehicles.

There are lots of activities around the lake to have fun with including: hiking, swimming, fishing, 3 geocaches, and an awesome 2 mile hike to a plane crash!

And perhaps the best part of Barrett Lake, is the sunsets. Every single evening, for about 15 minutes, the sun setting will light up the granite hills surrounding the lake in a neon fireburnt orange glow.

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Barrett Lake 4×4 Trail Obstacles

Gatekeeper

S Turn

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Barrett Lake 4×4 Trail Points of Interest

Barrett Lake Plane Crash

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