Hiked to the falls first and then the lake. I wouldn't be convinced to go up to the falls if I had left it for second. The hike up to Lake Serene is brutal. It's a stair master most of the way, some stone steps, some stairs, some stairs with stone, some high steps, some loose rock steps, but not too many rooty places. Giant old trees, lots of berry bushes and the mosquitos will find you if you hold still but bug spray held them off. Only three parties with boom box music (sorry guys, but that is just super ick) so that's better than other trails lately. Dogs mostly on leash, would be cool to see that at 100% especially those of you with the less than chill doggos. Very busy trail, parking lot full at 8am. Sun was brutal and the forest shade a great relief. Stopped on the way down to lay on the giant rocks of the waterfall past Bridal Veil cutoff. Highly recommend this pause on the return. I'm already a water buffalo, but this hike took four liters to feel hydrated, lots of snacks and a lunch.

We arrived early (~7:30) to make sure we could get parking, as we knew it was a popular. The main parking lot was already almost full! There is overflow parki

I did this trail for the first time today. I generally like to avoid super popular trails, but this one has been on my list for some time. I figured a Monday would be a good day to do it. I arrived at the trailhead to a nearly full parking lot around noon. The parking lot is quite large as far as trailhead parking lots go. But, yeah, I suppose I’m not the only one who thought Monday would be a good day to hike this trail.

The trail was quite muggy on the lower sections which was somewhat of a surprise. Not sure why that surprised me, considering it was raining in the general local area earlier. But nevertheless, it gave me a good sticky sweaty layer right from the get go.

the trail is beautiful, the falls were roaring, and the lake lived up to its name. One thing I must lament about though: leave no trace. I saw so much toilet paper hidden behind trees, slightly off the trail. I have never seen so much toilet paper in [relatively] plain sight. You are supposed to pack used toilet paper into ziplock bags and then dispose of the bags at the trailhead garbage, or if there isn’t garbage, you are suppose to take it with you when you leave. You are not supposed to just leave it lying there in the dirt.

Thank you for coming to my Ted talk. I hope you get out and spend some time in nature, however that looks to you.

Also, in the spirit of sounding 50 years older than I actually am, those music backpacks…your music and bass beats may sound great to you, but it may ruin the peace and quiet someone else is so desperately seeking for just a few hours of their day. Ear buds are great when sharing Mother Nature with others.

Arrived at main parking lot at 08:30 on a Saturday morning. Took the last spot available. Trail was nice. Very crowded but expected based on the parking lot, summertime, a Saturday and no rain. The falls are beautiful.

We arrived at 7am and the parking lot was halfway full. The beginning of the trail was pretty easy. We took the 1/2 mile trail to the falls, which was awesome! We then hiked toward the lake, crossing over a couple streams. There was another smaller waterfall we walked past, then the trail started to get difficult. There are a lot of steps and big rocks and we had to take a couple breaks. There were a lot of people hiking up at the same time as us, but everyone had good trail etiquette.

The lake was beautiful and there is still some snow surrounding one side of it. There were a lot of bugs, so definitely bring bug spray! The descent was kind of difficult with navigating down and around all the rocks. There were a lot of cars in the parking lot and parked down the road when we got back around 11. Overall, this hike was challenging but fun!