Long pants are a must on this, at times, severely overgrown trail. Major overgrowth started about 4 miles in. We camped just past the river crossing and mosquitos were on us no matter if we were stopped or still moving, starting at the trailhead. Bugs and overgrowth aside, it was a lovely spot to camp and the cold river provided a nice spot to cool down with the sun beating overhead.

Amazing! Easy enough to cross bridge.

We started the trail at 7am today. We were looking to get a quick workout so had planned to go only up to the river before lakes and we did just that. Only 1 car was camped at parking lot when we arrived and they were backpackers. Bugs are really bad and start right at the trail. Can't stop for even a second. trail was in decent condition with some downed trees and stream crossings. Not impassable. There were a lot of overgrown bushes to get past throughout the trail so that was annoying. Be sure to wear full clothing  due to bugs and stinging nettles. I had capris and got stung in exposed leg while crossing overgrown bushes and it is still stinging hours after I am back home. We only made it to the bridge ( ~5 mi) into the trail as the river was raging and was overflowing and we couldn't cross. Had a nice lunch by the river and headed back to car by 12:30pm. Saw a few backpackers on our way back. Will be coming back when the river levels have subsided to check out Jade lake.  

Started our backpacking trip at 5:30pm 6/25 in the 94 degree heat. 6 other vehicles were parked at the trailhead. The first few miles are nice and flat and follow the river with some cool crossings. There's about a half mile of very overgrown stinging neddle which was annoying. The river crossing was slightly sketchy but doable right before the climb to Jade. Here there is a good stretch of downed trees which are a pain to crawl over and under. One snagged and ripped my pack open. Arrived at the camp around 10pm and it was taken but we found a flat spot a quarter mile away by the river. Saturday morning we sent out for Jade Lake with day packs and hammocks, in hopes of being able to push further to Opal. The snow right before and around Jade proved to be too treacherous with deep post holes opening up and snow bridges collapsing everywhere. We hung our hammocks here for the day and soaked in the half frozen lake periodically while the temps reached 90 even up there. Saw a bear Sunday morning at camp eating some devil's club and not caring about us whatsoever. Will definitely be coming back when the snow has thawed but I'm not looking forward to those downed trees again!