Today I made an unsuccessful attempt to go to the Eagle Lake from Barclay Lake.

I started the hike around 9 am and the weather was really nice, just a little drizzle.
The 4 mile long road from the Hwy 2 is in good shape. I've been to this Lake 2 times before in winter, and every time I struggled to reach the Trailhead.
Most of the potholes are gone now, seems like significant road work has been done in the past 1 and a ½ years.
only 7 cars were at the trailhead in the morning.

It took me 1 hour to reach Barclay Lake, ran into a few returning backpackers. I took a 15 minute break at the Lake and then started looking for the Eagle Lake trail.
I somehow found the trail from the 2nd Toilet sign, followed the track and ended up with a faint trail going upwards.
that's the Trail to the Eagle Lake.
However, pretty quickly I lost the trail again, there are a ton of Fallen trees in that section and navigating through that was really difficult..
after going ½ mile up, I found the Half broken Wild Sky wilderness sign, and few ribbons..
from here the trail again gets lost. I couldn't figure out which way exactly to go, as there was another huge fallen tree was in front of me.
In that short distance, I ended up eating so many spider webs ( they are everywhere 😓), and a tree branch (2nd picture) was almost about to make me blind.🥲

I realized it's not worth it, especially today! my trail pant got completely wet due to all the water from the trees. and the trail was really steep and slippery. Perhaps, I can try again on a dry summer day!

I was pretty disappointed not to make it to the Eagle Lake, but then I saw things near the Barclay Lake which made me disgusted.
Near the first pit toilet, people desecrated that area with toilet papers, Kleenex lying on the ground. It felt like someone left a paper trail to the Pit Toilet.
I felt bad and started picking up trash on the trail.
Scanned most of the campground area, found so many disgusting things! broken glass bottle, beer cans are pretty common!
Found a men's underwear (3rd picture) next to a campsite. I don't know what kind of human can do this. 🤦🏻

I picked up a few ziplocks too, Protein bar packets etc. This trail was really dirty, especially near the Lake area!
Please please follow the Leave No Traces principles..Pack it in, Pack it out.
If you can't, stay home!
Honestly, I do not enjoy picking up trash on trail.😡
At the end, I ended up picking up quite a sizable amount of trash in this trail.
Hope at least for a few days, this beautiful place could stay litter free!

Btw, There are a lot of Mushrooms growing in that forest now!
(4th picture)

Hiked this as a dessert after Scenic Hot Springs— I started about 45 minutes before sunset, intending only to go about half a mile, and ended up just doing the whole thing, finishing in the dark. I’ve done this trail so many times now that I was quite comfortable even in the failing light, which is great because I kept getting sidetracked taking sunset pictures and ended up taking about 90 minutes to do the whole thing!

Never seen so many laetiporus flushes in one trail— old ones, fresh ones, hidden under logs and in stumps, and absolutely devouring one huge dying tree near the bridge. I love chicken of the woods so I took a few meals’ worth from the backside of one hidden flush and left the rest to be beautiful in peace!

I had been looking for the Barclay to Eagle Lake trail for a while, and finally found it and did it.  It starts from the second toilet trail.  Cairns and ribbons help mark the way.  The beginning of the trail is tough to find/navigate because of downed trees, but gets better after the start.  The trail is straight up, and somewhat grueling, but has some great moments.  Tons of huckleberries and blueberries up near Stone Lake and Eagle Lake.

Perfect first backpacking trip for my 13 year old with fresh water, berries, mountain views, and no bugs. Surprisingly empty Labor Day weekend. 11 tents, could have had as many more. Many sites with fire pits and log seats past both ends of the lake. Saw people on the trail only every ten minutes and plenty of space around the lake. Clear shallow water with muddy bottom. Beautiful sunset.

Pro tip: If you can’t dig a 6 inch hole through heavily rooted soil, use the toilet halfway up the lake to save the rest of us from seeing toilet paper strewn about.

We picked Barclay Lake as a mid-week hike with my 13yo. We had hoped to swim, but the lake was “giving muddy pond” so we chilled in the hammock instead.

Where the hike “cooked” - easy walking, cool mushrooms, great campsites for backpackers, some really big cedars near the lake, and others that made excellent hammock trees.

Ways the hike was “low key mid” - trash/TP left by other hikers, lake not too inviting for swimming.

Moving time: About 2 hours.

60 people and 9 dogs.