Lake 22 — Monday, Jun. 29, 2020

We arrived at the trailhead around 0630 and the parking lot was probably 30-40% full. As always, it was a lovely hike with lots of water on the trail and stream crossings galore. Due to the recent rains the waterfalls along Twenty-Two Creek, including Hundred Step and Apron and the aquifers behind the lake coming down the mountainside, where giving a pretty nice showing. The trail was a bit muddier and wetter than usual, with a fair amount of standing water. We observed quite a variety of birds and some chipmunks on the way up. The berries aren't *quite* there yet. We made it to the lake in good time and it wasn't particularly crowded, as we were able to spread out to the far sides of the lake. We ate our lunch on the rocks. Also had to break out the bug spray, but they were only bad right around the lake.

Probably more concerning; however, was the depressing amount of trash and abandoned gear and clothing we saw. And not just from past hikes--we found new trash on the way back down that had been ACTIVELY dropped on the trail by hikers coming up. This is absolutely and completely unacceptable.

Because there isn't a lot of room to socially distance, we stopped and yielded constantly on the descent. In addition, we encountered **many** groups who exhibited absolutely no trail etiquette. Most were not yielding to ascending hikers. We encountered multiple groups of 5 or more people, both on ascent and descent, who just decided to stop and sit down in the middle of the trail for a break (mostly by the rocky cliffs area)--we had to walk between all of them as they were sitting there chatting and laughing, no masks of course. One group left their dogs' poop in the middle of the trail. You can't make this stuff up.

It is not difficult to be a considerate hiker. Pack in; pack out. Learn the bare minimum of trail etiquette.