This beautiful trail provides high mountain views with quite moderate elevation gain. We got to the trailhead at 10:40am on a Saturday and were able to park in the lot. While we encountered plenty of people on the trail, it wasn't as crowded as I had anticipated, though I expect there will be more folks on the trail as we head into fall.

We decided to hike clockwise to get the steeper section out of the way on the uphill, and I think this was a good call - on the descent, I didn't actually think counterclockwise would be much less steep, just longer. That said, I think the trail would be lovely hiking either direction. The trail didn't seem particularly steep on the way up - there were a few brief steeper sections and big steps, but these were interspersed with nicely graded trail sections. We had shade for many of these steeper bits, and when we broke out into the sun with wide views approaching the pass, the grade was generally mellow with a nice breeze.

After a nice break at the top taking in the views, we headed down the loop. We enjoyed some ripe berries along the trail and paused briefly to chat with a marmot.

#hike-a-thon. Arrived at the trail head around 9:15 on a busy Saturday. There were so many cars parked on the road we didn't bother to check out trailhead parking. The road had a wide shoulder so I felt fine leaving my car there. It was a relatively short ealk from the car to trailhead. We also didn't need to put up our NW Forest Pass since we were on the road. 

Glorious hike. We went counter clockwise for what seemed to be a slightly more gradual ascent. Not a lot of wildflowers to speak of. A very few ripe berries on the trail. Excellent views. 

An amazing hike with some of the best views that I've seen so far in the state. You quickly leave the forest and have tremendous views nearly the entire way. We hiked counter-clockwise, which I feel is the best way as long as you bring some poles to save your knees on the way down. As always, try to get here early to beat the crowds, even if they're not quite as bad as it gets for hikes closer to Seattle. 

Arrived around 11 am. We went counterclockwise and glad we did - seeing a succession of breathtaking vistas which got better the further up we went. Trail in good condition and not too busy. Amazing hike and ranks very high on the hikes have done over the last 50 years.

Arrived at parking lot at 7 and so easily found a spot. Hiked it counterclockwise after reading up on the trail and definitely am glad of that choice. For the first 2 hours shared the trail only with some sunbathing marmots, pikas and a particularly loud grouse. Did the side trail to Lake Ann as an added jaunt. There were minimal bugs out in the morning. By the time we came back down cars were lined up along the street.