Well maintained trail and a fairly easy to moderate hike. Around 15 mins of drive on unpaved forest road.

Got to the trailhead around 8:45am and the parking lot was full. We parked down the road (probably less than a quarter mile) which was fine because getting out was way faster as the road was packed when we left at around 11:30am. Cars were easily parked farther than a mile down the road at that time. 

The trail is in good condition, both lakes were warm enough to swim for longer than a quick dip, and there were no bugs. Trail is well covered by trees most of the way so not too hot. My watch final stats were 6 miles round trip and 1200 ft elevation on the dot. Overall super nice day - would like to come back to camp! 

My dog and I did an overnight hike on Tuesday. Upon arriving at Olallie, the first toilet sign can be seen to the left just after passing the Day Use area. Continue along the main trail and there are several camping spots to your right (we picked one of these), some with space for one tent, some with space for 2-3 tents. After passing several spots there is one more toilet sign to your left, before the trail hugs the curve of the lake to your right, and there are a few more camping spots at the end of the lake. Most of the campsites have convenient lake access. We arrived at the lake at 11:30am on a Tuesday and I'd say less than half the spots were taken at that time. Still plenty to choose from, but they did mostly (not completely) fill up by around 4-5pm.

Bugs weren't too bad, mainly just flies that buzzed around and sometimes landed. I only noticed mosquitoes in the early morning, and even then it was only a few. I never actually used my bug spray.

Wildlife: The fish started jumping like crazy around 6:45pm. If you want to catch your dinner I think you would have good luck. I heard an owl calling "who who" from far away at around 9:45pm. Then at 4:30am another owl was making a different call from much closer by. It sounded more like a pigeon except lower pitch? Definitely sounded like a very large owl. I should've recorded the sound but I didn't think to do that until later.

Overall a great overnight! Highly recommended for anyone looking for an easy trek up, low exertion but high reward.

I hiked from 11am-2pm on a Sunday with my two dogs. I had to park about half a mile down on the access road. There was a steady trickle of people coming out and going in, many with kids and dogs. I was doing a lot of leapfrogging with other groups. I only went to Talapus Lake, and the main view point at the logs was busy. I kept going and found a spot further up to get closer to the water. I noticed a few bugs while I was eating my lunch, but they weren’t at an annoying level. It made me want to backpack here so I’d have more time to find a good access spot. When I got back to my car at 2 there were closer spots open.

If you want a quiet, relaxed hike, I think the move is to start this at like 2 on a Sunday.

Only went up to Talapus Lake because we are still slowly getting back into hiking. It’s a good, easy hike with very gradual incline. But there is no access to the lake - the lake is blocked by a lot of logs and rocks. So you can see it and take photos but that's it. Also, the viewpoint is so small for the number of people that show up at this trail. We couldn't even get an empty spot to take photos at the viewpoint. Large groups were crowding it so much. And this was at 9:30am. There is a campsite around the lake (you can get to it by going anti-clockwise at the little bridge) but that also has a very tiny access to the lake. And that access was so filthy today - it was stinking.

Parking lot was full when we got there at 8am. So we parked on the access road. When we got back at 11am, the parking was almost a mile on the access road. The access road is also gravel and potholes for 3 miles. Not too bad for any kind of car but it is not paved. So overall, I think we will probably not do this hike again unless we go to the Ollalie lake, if it is any better.