One of my favorite close to home hikes. No snow. Bugs non-existent in Denny Creek and only mild at Melakwa Lake. Not crowded on this pleasant Thursday. 9-10 mi RT.

arrived trail head around 945am, approx 15 cars. a great sunny summer day. no snow on trail. a few blow downs but nothing difficult to get over or around. no bugs - yahoo! lake was spectacular.

met friends at 5pm, parking lot was full of cars. A few down trees on trail, but other than that trail in good cond. We have done this hike in the past, and worth a redo. the lake with the views is very nice. A few groups camping at the lake. Lots of bugs at the lake. Had to use our headlamps on the way down..had a great time.

Started 11 am on a Monday. Just one or two other cars in the lot...

Started from the Pratt lake/Granite Mountain TH, to Pratt Lake and then Tuscohatchie. Trail is in excellent condition to the avalanche area (right before the junction with Granite Mt trail, so this is within half a mile of the TH), there is now a fairly clear trail through the avalanche chute marked with pink flags. Looks as if wta is trying to close off the alternate re-routes around the avalanche. Please look for the flags that mark the trail on the way in (if it is not yet obvious) because that is by far the easiest way through the debris and will avoid destroying more vegetation. We missed the real trail on the way in, assuming that it was not yet clear, because the very beginning of it is the most jumbled still, but on the way out it was totally obvious, with just a few feet of mounded soft dirt left piled around and over debris. When we came out, there was a lot of water running down that last little section of the trail over the avalanche, but I am almost certain that by now wta will have re-directed that water, since they had already done some work between the time we entered the trail and the time we came out end of day.

We started late on a Monday, not many folks on the trail, although we were passed (and passed) a few backpackers on the first section before the Pratt/Olallie Saddle. A warmish day but not too bad, since almost the entire route is under the shade of the trees. There is an open section over rocks on the descent to Pratt Lake that got very hot as we reached it around 2 pm, but then you are in thin shade again until the lakes. Pratt Lake is beautiful, huge, and warm enough to swim in, also surprisingly empty of people, only a few teenagers camping and fishing. Tuscohatchie on the other hand, although 12 miles in, had a number of people camping, some fishing, swimming, washing clothes, floating around in a rubber raft (imagine hauling that up 12 miles and 2300'--they'll be lugging it back up another 1000' on the way out, too....). Tuscohatchie is another big beautiful lake, also warm enough to swim, perhaps just a touch cooler than Pratt since you can actually see the waterfall at the end bringing meltwater into the lake.

The trail and hike were great--mostly a nice steady grade with lovely trail conditions, enough easily negotiable rocks and roots on the trail to make it interesting, no mudholes to speak of, all stream crossings easy with to do without wetting the feet at this time of year, with stepping stones or logs and relatively shallow water. Temperature was just a little cooler than it was over the weekend, better for hiking but just right for swimming, which we did for a long time at both lakes, with some nice lazy lounging in the sun also at both. We made it a nice easy long day, starting at 11 am and returning to the trailhead well before full dark at around 8:45--we left Tuscohatchie after 5:30 pm.