With rain threatening we decided to do Dorothy Lake today, Sunday. The trail is clear and in good shape though there is evidence of some restoration about to begin. Erosion has done some normal damage with exposing roots, etc. I would classify the hike as a moderately difficult one. Although only about 2 miles long, one way, it is somewhat steep and lots of rocks and roots to navigate around, and deep steps. It's a great hike, no problems. Saw about 15 or so other hikers, many with their leased dogs. Rained lightly as we were just getting into our lunch at top by the lake. Many of the sitting areas around the lake are roped off for repair. Round trip took us about 2hrs and 45 min.

Hiked to Dorothy Lake to set up camp before heading to the junction with trail #1002. The trail is in good shape and there were no bugs to speak of. Lots of roots and rocks to navigate on the trail but overall the trail isn't too bad. The campgrounds at Dorothy Lake were in good shape and crowding wasn't an issue.

Arrived at the Taylor River Trailhead around 3:00 pm Friday. Description says it is 15.5 mi to the trailhead from the turnoff on Middle Fork Snoqualmie Road - it is more like 12. Our destination is Snoqualmie Lake, about 8.5 miles in. The first 6.8 is pretty flat, easy hiking but still a ways with a 45lb pack. The 1.7 up to Snoqualmie Lake gains about 1,400ft elevation and tuckered me out. We arrived around 7:30 pm, I was pleasantly surprised to find we were the only ones there. As such we scored the best camping spot on the lake. Sitting in solitude that night on our favorite rock, overlooking the lake with bright moonlight dancing on the water, we could not help but feel that ultimate peace only a good backpacking trip can give. Unfortunately for us the solitude did not last, many people started coming through Saturday afternoon, one group of which thought we should move since there were more of them. I wished they had a joking tone. First come, first serve, people. Anyway I will hang on to that first night and the quiet morning we had, and plan future trips here mid week to avoid weekend traffic. Lots of beautiful waterfalls along the way, for the most part the trail is in good shape, the trail follows a creek bed up when you are about .5 miles from the lake, look for the stacks of rocks that are trail markers to pick the trail back up. I am used to North Cascades trails that are still covered in snow, are much more difficult therefore less travelled, and was weary of this being so close to Seattle and so low in elevation. Aside from the one large group it really wasn't too bad, and there is always Deer Lake and Bear Lake not too much further up if the campspots at Snoqualmie are full.

Thanks to Garth for his report which gave us the idea to go up there! The blowdowns are all singular trees, easily circumnavigated. A few mudspots (which could become deeper/wider with the weekend traffic), but not bothersome. Just a few snowspots at the S-end of Dorothy, again nothing to even mention. Trail crews finished up the bridge railing there this morning. No problems to Bear Lake either. Just a few snow fields which you can see the undermelt easily enough to avoid it. (Stay on the most elevated areas of the snow). One relatively large snowpatch about 3/4 of the way up to the highest spot prior to descending to Bear Lake was big enough to obscure the trail exit and we had to walk along the edges to find it. No major inconvenience and no postholing. Bear/Deer Lakes 100% open, N-facing shorelines have snow remaining. Tried swimming in Bear Lake - I do this a lot in mountain lakes and this was the coldest water I've encountered in a long time (i.e. the pain just never went away...). One warning to all: At the lunch spot, my wife found two ticks (!) on the log we were sitting on. Didn't think they were distributed that high up, but the 100% Deet came out in a hurry. Otherwise, a few no-see-um bites moslty at the trailhead and at the N-end of Dorothy. A Mozzie or two were successfully dispatched and that was about it as far as pests go. Great weather, great hike - have fun!

Lake Dorothy was beautiful as always. The road sign for Miller River Road was missing at the turnoff south of Money Creek Campground. The logging road is in excelent shape all the way to the trailhead. The few bugs there were didn't seem to be biting. There was one blowdown mostly blocking the trail just below the lake. With all the fresh snowmelt, the water is a bit cold yet for long swims and the outlet streams are as high as I have seen. Trail crews have done quite a bit of work up to the lake lately & were seen at the south end of Dorothy. The trail was wet & muddy (typical) to the lake but can easily be done in tennis shoes. We rafted to the south end so have no info on the trail along the lake. The eastern most island at the south end of the lake has a pair of hawks taking care of several babies in a large nest on the very top of 80' broken off snag. They should be quite visible from the trail. From a group heading out, I heard the trail to Deer & Bear lakes still has snow and the lakes are mostly frozen over. Snoqualmie Lake was thawed.