Road - really great all the way

Trailhead - plenty of parking, toilet in good shape and stocked with tp

Trail - really rough on a hot day up through about 1.6 miles with major overgrowth that is stiff and dry now, shredding legs through pants. Clears up a bit and one more bad patch before finally clearing after 2 miles. After that trail is beautiful as you leave the burn area and gain shade, but trail also steepens then. Water as trail moves toward creek at 2.6 miles. As advertised, all roads lead to summit once you get to opposite side of lake. Worth knowing you can’t actually see the summit from the lake, but go towards rounded summit in the background and you’ll get there.

11.1 miles, 5,050 gain, 4:40

Scatter Lake is one of our favorite day hikes in the area, and with 4,000 feet of elevation gain over 10 miles (out and back) at a 15% to 20% grade, it is also a good workout. The expanding views as you ascend out of the burned forest and into alpine meadows to the lake is worth the effort.  The tread is in good shape, but there is vegetation over the trail throughout.  Vegetation is particularly thick beginning a quarter mile in and for the next mile to the wilderness boundary - pants are definitely recommended to save your legs in this area.  This is the thickest vegetation we've ever seen on this trail, a result of earlier fires removing the forest canopy and little recent trail maintenance.  We'll bring clippers next time up.  Nice to see so many young pine and fir seedlings taking root in the burned area.  The lake is magical!

Did an overnight hike to scatter lake. Lower half of trail is brushy. Good drinking water access half way then a few more spots before the lake. Beautiful lake with a and handful of great camping spots. Very few mosquitoes. Goats visiting camp at night. Only meet 2 day hikers .

Really peaceful and relaxing trip up Abernathy! Here's what you might want to know: The road is in perfect shape, the whole route is snow-free, the scramble looks harder than it is. 

We left Renton at 630 and didn't arrive to the TH until about 11. I'm 95% positive the animal we saw along the road on the way in was a moose, it had a large hump and was as tall as the car. Didn't know we had those here! Probably a good reason not to drive too fast on the road in. There looked to be some space to set up a tent by the TH if you wanted to park the night before, as well as a privy.

The first two miles were a little overgrown, but not to the point of being annoying - I am glad we wore long pants. There were only 4 other cars in the lot on a Saturday, and after about 3pm we didn't see any other humans. 

From the lake looking up, the scramble looks more intense than it is. While we were actually heading up to the peak, I remember thinking this is not as bad as it looked. I think I reached down for support on a rock just once - helmet and ice axe are not needed. It was our Labador pup's first Bulger, and we were pretty proud! 

Around the lake, it looked as if there was an avalanche over the winter, many of the larches were lopped off about 5 feet above the ground and leaning the same direction. Also, we saw some goats in the night, and though we didn't see any traces of bear I'm glad we had the food bag hanging away from the tent. 

Please enjoy this 3 minute video of our hike, as well as some scree skiing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDMWxQ8SSHc

We made the steep, arduous climb to Scatter Lake on a sunny, relatively warm Wednesday.  Although there was one car at the trailhead, no other parties had signed in on the trail register for the 12^th, and all of the earlier parties had listed their exit days as the 11^th or earlier.  That car was still at the trailhead on our return, and we saw no evidence of that party on the trail.  Perhaps they were backpacking along the Twisp River trail.

Access to the trailhead is easy and on a good road.  The turnoff from the Twisp River Road is signed.

The trail to Scatter Lake starts in an open forest but after about a quarter mile enters the extensive burned area.  For the next 2.3 miles, the trail climbs through the burn, initially on a gentle grade through a series wide, sweeping switchbacks, and then more steeply uphill along the west slope of the Scatter Creek valley.  Through this section of trail, a burgeoning understory of fireweed, snowbrush and other bushes carpets the landscape beneath the towering spires of blackened and silver trunks. The brushy understory rises from waist to shoulder high and crowds in along the trail.  Although it was always easy to see the trail bed directly in front of us, we were constantly pushing branches aside as we forged through.  We were glad to have chosen long pants for the hike, as shorts would definitely have led to scratched legs.  

After about 2.6 miles through the burn, the trail finally enters unburned, open forest.  From here the hike is much prettier as you pass through lovely, mature spruce, hemlock and fir groves, interspersed with more open areas of rockfall and meadow.  The grade steepens as you hike higher and the trail bed becomes increasingly rocky. 

The larch zone begins about 3.7 miles along the trail, at an elevation of about 6500 ft.  The grade moderates a bit as it passes through an open meadow fringed by larches and crosses the outlet from Scatter Lake, but this is a short respite.  The final climb up to the tarn is one of the steepest sections of the trail.  Once you crest the ridge above the tarn, it is a short, flat walk to the lake. 

The larches are still orange and the few patches of blueberries along the trail are deep purple-red.  However, the larch needles are falling and the peak of fall color in the sub-alpine has probably passed.

We enjoyed a long lunch at the lake and then I ambled along the shore while my partner cast for trout in the clear, green water.  (He caught and released several Rainbow Trout, none of which would have been large enough to eat, should that have been his intent.) 

On the way back down the trail we met a pair of backpackers heading up to camp at the lake.  They were the only people we saw all day.

Overall, I would describe this trail as a very steep, somewhat tedious climb in which the destination far outshines the journey.  Be prepared for a cardiovascular workout and tired legs!