Needing to escape from life on a hot weekend, I went with a friend up to Lake Sundown for a night. We didn't escape the heat (ugh), but didn't see any other people from one hour into the hike until a couple hours before finishing, so it was nice to be alone in the mountains.
  The trail is generally in good shape, although there are some trees across it throughout. The first bridge across the S. Fork Skokomish is completely gone, but there's a bit of a trail from the horse crossing sign to a large tree across the river. Or you can rock-hop, or wade. Crossing Startup Creek is a wade or clamber across a boulder and tree.
  Around 3000', just below the first meadow, a large tree is down, laying straight down the trail - it's easiest to climb up on it and walk along the trunk for 50 or 100', then walk alongside it until the trail emerges from beneath it.
  The meadows are nice - if you're careful you can cross them without getting wet, as they are starting to dry up, and there are lots of elephants' heads blooming, and frogs hopping and such. Even a few shooting stars remaining. And a pond full of pollywogs. At the largest meadow, just cross to the very farthest point to pick up the trail again. The last mile to the pass is kind of unpleasantly steep, especially in the heat. There are a couple snow patches before the pass, but nothing difficult, and nice ponds and streams and meadows.
  Dropping down from the pass to the Six Ridge Trail, there are a couple blowdowns, a lot of elk tracks, and some moderately steep, but suncupped, snow patches. These require a little care. There are a few more snow patches on Six Ridge Trail to Lake Sundown, but again, not difficult, just wet and sloppy (when I was there). No snow at the lake at all. The outlet stream requires knee-deep wading to get to the campsites.
  Quite pretty at the lake, and the wet meadows at the head of the lake are fantastic - tons of flowers of many sorts, a bear ( both in the evening and in the morning), about 20 elk (lots of young ones), and a nice swimming beach with evening sun. There are lots of fish in the lake as well.

  Not much blooming down low - foamflowers, salal, lots of nice twinflower; still some vanilla leaf and starflowers as well. As you climb, you get a lot more - prime summer dark woods flowers - 3 species of wintergreen blooming in one 30' stretch, pinedrops, pinesap, Corallorhiza, rattlesnake plantain, Clintonia, false lily of the valley etc. Higher still there is tall larkspur, buttercups, shooting stars, elephants' heads, the first few wood lilies, various Epilobia, bog orchids, a few Trillia still, yellow violets, pale violet violets up high, phlox, meadowrue, LOTS of white Erythronium lilies, a couple yellow ones (not open yet), blueberries, Mertensia, a white waterleaf, a few lupines, columbine, more false bugbane than I think I've ever seen, and pink heather.

  All in all, a very nice hike, although a bit steep in places for a hot day. Bugs were annoying a few places and times of day, but certainly not unbearable, and I never used repellent.