1.4 mi of trail, end to end · about 100 ft of climbing · 68 ft–148 ft · imported compacted material surface · trail No. 52739 · trail class 4 · typical grade 0-5% · tread 18-24 inches wide · hiking, bike · seasonal: hiking 05/15-09/15
CampgroundsPicnic areas
Along the waySignal Creek CampgroundGrassy Point Picnic Site
TrailheadWard Lake Nature Trailhead 104 ft Drive there
Ward Lake Nature Trailhead the Forest Service's write-up
The Ward Lake Nature Trail is 1.5 miles long. The trail is gravel surfaced, flat and easy to hike. The most popular trail in the Ketchikan area, this nature path skirts the shore of Ward Lake. The trail offers a variety of stops, traveling through Signal Creek campground and the Ward Lake Day Use area. It is wide enough in most places to accommodate two people walking side by side.
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.
