Road is now open all the way to the trail head. This was our first backpacking experience, and overall was very pleasant. The trail is easy and level for about 1.5 miles, and then steep and rooty for the last .5 mile, but my 7 year old daughter made the treck just fine. There is a very nice bridge over one waterfall with views to two others about 1/2 the way up - really a destination on its own merit. Lots of huckleberrys on the road up and along the trail. There were a lot of day hikers Saturday and Sunday. The lake is semi-accessable, with most of the camping spots some distance from the lake, which was a hassel retriving water. We caught one fish in the 2 hours we fished Saturday afternoon. We were lucky and camped in a spot close to the lake outlet. A ranger we ran into indicated all the campsites were full for another mile or so up the trail - indicating this is a popular spot to go.

No snow was encountered along the entire route. Dorothy, Bear, Deer and Snoqualmie Lakes were all snow free. There is a temporary trailhead 2.5 miles back of the actual trailhead (has the actual trailhead ever been open') and the road is scheduled to open (you guessed it) next week. The Lake Dorothy Trail has been cleared to the southwest end of the lake. There are three windfalls on the switchbacks above Dorothy and about forty on the other side heading down past Bear, Deer and Snoqualmie Lakes to the old trailhead on the once Taylor River Road. The trail is brushy on the switchbacks above Snoqualmie Lake and incredibly brushy alongside Snoqualmie Lake and for about 25% of the trail length to the old trailhead. All the windfalls have been catalogued for a contractor who will be cutting out these nuisances. Some of the windfalls have been in place for so long that the detour is now an established trail and the original tread is no longer discernable - these windfalls were omitted from the catalog. There are some areas of heavy brush and there are three windfalls along the old Taylor River Road. Weather was overcast (very Saturday-like) with thunderstorms starting at 3 pm and lasting until 5:30. Constant rain starting before 7 pm and tapering off sometime overnight. Sunday was overcast with clearing just as we head into the work week (the gods are cruel indeed). Puncheon, rocks and other assorted nuisances are very slippery. Canadian dogwood, tiger lily, columbine, coral root, dewberry, and foxglove were noted.

The road to the trailhead is closed 3 miles from the trailhead (from July 6 til early August) to repair a washout. The trail itself was a bit muddy in places, but totally snow free. Lots of Canadian Dogwood en route to the lake which was 99.9% snow free. Not many bugs.

We spent Saturday night at Lake Dorothy. The partial road closure adds about 2.5 miles each way, and kept the Lake relatively uncrowded on Saturday. The overcast skies and occasional light mist on Saturday likely contributed to the scant crowds. The trail to Dorothy Lake is in good condition, and the trail to the south end of Lake Dorothy is also in good condition. We day hiked to the ridge above Bear Lake. This trail has about three blowdowns, only one of which is much of a problem. The snow on this trail is patchy, until about the last 100 vertical feet (starting at about elevation 3700 feet), where it is continuous. Route finding was not difficult. From the ridge, we looked down toward Bear Lake through the mist, and it appears to be snow covered. The trail down to Bear Lake from the ridge appears mostly snow covered. Hiking out on Sunday, we passed many people, and the parking area had many cars.

The warm weather has eliminated most of the snow, however the very south end of the lake which leads to bear and eagle lake was still snowed in (though probably passable.) Blow-down cleared from trail through midlake past which one must navigate two or three fallen trees. The camp sites at the south end of the lake are useable but not as dry as the north end. Hiked in late Friday afternoon we were the third vehicle. We hiked out Saturday morning and by 11:30 there were 27 vehicles lined up. This is in fact a highly used day hike trail and the usage/abuse to the trail is very evident. Kudos to those who have done work and to those about to do work this coming week-end, your vounteer time and effort will be very much appreciated.