We did a 14 mile hike at Bead Lake, starting from the upper lot and traveling around the lake to the final camping spots. Then up the creekside trail to the ridge and along the ridge to the trail sign. We hiked about half a mile on the road to ensure we hit our mileage. Elevation was just over 2,650' up and down. There were 2-3 trees to step over across the trail while we were still lakeside. It being a Monday, we saw few people and enjoyed the peaceful solitude that we love about this location. There were some mosquitoes and flies. We each acquired a tick up top - there were some tall grasses between the trail sign and the road at the top. All in all, a beautiful day!

Very nice trail and not a bad option for a first time backpacking trip. This was my first time out with a fully-loaded (read: overloaded) pack in over a decade and was the limit of my very out-of-shape abilities. In particular, the hill at about mid-way is no joke if you're not used to elevation (like me). However, the multiple established campsites at relatively frequent intervals were a confidence booster to push just a little bit further. I camped at about the 3.5 mile mark and was thoroughly enchanted.

On both the hike in and hike out I saw maybe a half dozen other groups/individuals (including families with kids), but everyone was spaced out enough so it felt like you had the trail to yourself. I also never noticed anyone pass my camp once I pitched it around 3:30.

Of note: tick season has started it seems, as I encountered two of the little twerps. Probably worth using more than the herbal repellant I (very lightly) did.

Icy! Some snow on the trail but the bigger issue is the obvious freeze/thaw cycle that’s been happening. The trail required micro spikes to give any level of stability. There were sections that were worse than others, but they’re close enough together that I needed to keep my spikes on the whole time. Big tree down 1.25 miles from the trailhead but it wasn’t too bad to get over. Road to the trailhead and parking lot were moderately sketchy; I wouldn’t trust them for much longer.

A friend hiked Bead Lake about a week ahead of this trip and reported 11 trees down following recent windstorms, so we put together a rare one-day work party for our sawyers to get a little extra practice & for our volunteers to have some fun time on saws! We are normally running these as multi-day trips and backpacking, so it's fun to have one that's just a day trip. 

There was a little snow on the access road to the upper parking lot. Not much yet, so we didn't have any trouble accessing it, but it's important to note that the upper parking lot is not maintained for the winter so it may become inaccessible at any time. Winter access is usually a small pull-out area near the boat launch gate (which is already closed for winter). This trail is an awesome winter snowshoe outing, but finding a parking spot can be the biggest challenge and visitors should probably come prepared to dig out a spot if necessary.

Our crew reached our turn-around time at roughly the 3 mile mark on the trail, so I'm not sure how many trees may still be down beyond that point. We ultimately cleared 15 trees when only 11 were initially reported, so I think additional wind storms have been bringing down extra trees! It started to snow pretty hard as we were exiting and it was absolutely gorgeous out: light dusting of fresh snow on all of the trees and super calm conditions on the lake, so some very pretty views of the reflection of the trees on the water. It was a great day to be outdoors with a fun crew!

Nice, late summer weather. Lake was clear, calm & quiet with only a couple brave paddle boarders in the afternoon. Trail is well maintained and in good shape all the way to the Lodge Creek junction.  We then headed left across Lodge Creek and hiked this 1.2 mile spur trail to the end.  This stretch was wee bit more difficult compared to the previous 4.7 miles. It became pretty overgrown after a few hundred yards, with numerous downed trees, sketchy sections of talus, loose scree hidden by brush, on a somewhat steep slope and much skinnier trail.  Maybe not worth it, unless you want to put on a couple extra miles of more difficult hiking.