Set out on a Friday to camp at either Stone Lake (a pond) or potentially Eagle Lake, with aspirations of potentially trying Townsend Mountain (inspired by this trail report, thank you, SeanWoods!). We didn't want to camp at Barclay due to its overwhelming popularity and crowd, as well as slighty more of a challenge than Barlcay lake trail provides.
The road up, as other have mentioned has some pot holes that are easily passable, my Jeep Cherokee is in the shop and I did it in a rental car (Chevy Malibu) with no issues whatsoever, any car can definitely make it. Arrived Friday around 10:30am, and the Barclay Lake lot had parking begin to stretch down the road as expected, but nothing near what you would see on a Saturday around the same time. Got a decent spot and set out just before 11.
The trail to the lake is very easy, we passed lots of people hiking in and out, nearly everyone was respectful with donning the mask/stepping aside (please bring a mask if you go). Near the end of the lake trail (by the toilets) you head up the very overgrown trail to Stone Lake. This isn't a walk in the park (depending on your skill level/tolerance for some bush wacking), lots of over-undering the blow downs in the beginning, some steepness/slipperyness, a rock field or two and the trail tends to disappear but is marked pretty well with yellow/pink flags and cairns, especially once you get to the rock field. All that said, it's totally do-able with only a little bit of will power. On the way up we definitely lost the trail for a little bit in an area with a lot of blow downs which did make the ascent a little more difficult than it needed to be at that point, so do try and really seek out the cairns (they are there, trust me) and look for the sections of trail that are actually there to guide you, it'll be worth it getting to the top :).
Judging my track, it took us about 3 hours (we took our sweet time), including a small stop for lunch, to get to Eagle Lake. We initially thought we were going to camp at Stone Lake, but found it to be more of a pond, and it was pretty buggy when we got there in late afternoon. Plus it was only another 3/4 mile or so to Eagle Lake. Paradise Meadow leading to Eagle lake was pretty mushy/muddy (from snow melt), but very beautiful on a clear day. If you can deal with a little bit of hop scotching the streams and very muddy/soft patches you'll land at Eagle Lake when the trail from Stone meets the fisherman's trail. I'd imagine this meadow will be a lot better/drier in a few weeks since I think the snow just melted. Completely snow free now.
Eagle Lake was gorgeous, especially with Merchant Peak (southeast) and its snow patches looming over the lake. Fish were jumping everywhere (wish I brought my rod). The cabin was vacant, but we opted to grab one of the other camp spots. The unobstructed view of the lake and the mountain from the porch of the cabin was tough to turn down.
The bugs were out in force as expected, but easily handled with a small fire. Otherwise it was bliss just chilling on the logs lining the lake for the remainder of the evening. We intended to do 2 nights there at the lake and doing Townsend, but decided to head home the next morning. If anyone knows where, from Eagle Lake, you start the ascent for Townsend, def comment, bc I wasn't exactly sure, my guess was the boulder field (on the right hand side of my photo) or perhaps going around on the right and heading for the saddle that sits in the back right corner and then along the ridge?
Cheers guys - enjoy
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