Colchuck Lake — Saturday, Aug. 1, 2020

Gaia GPS App Stats: 8.94 miles Ascent: 2,373 feet

Parking Fee: Northwest Forest Pass or pay $5 at the trail head

Arriving in the afternoon to beat crowds: We arrived at the trail head in the afternoon, around 1:40pm, with the hope that many of the early risers and biggest part of the crowds would be done with the hike and there would be some open parking spots at the trail head. This worked. There were about 10 open spots on the road and 4 at the trail head parking lot itself. Make sure to give yourself enough time to get down before dark or bring the necessary equipment/lighting. It took my friend and I 8 hours total to complete the hike including many breaks, stops, and dinner/swimming at the lake. 

Parking: There are only about 20-30 spots at the trail head itself and the rest of the cars were parked on the road. It was almost a one-lane road and difficult to get through with everyone trying to leave at the same time. 

Lock your cars and leave valuables at home: We saw a guy get out of his vehicle when driving down the trail head, wiggle a parked car's door handle and get back in his vehicle and drive off. It wouldn't surprise me if there is often car prowling here because the cars are left unattended for so long. 

Rated "Hard": It is a difficult hike especially in the last two miles before reaching the lake. It is steep and a lot of boulder/rocks on the trails. I drank 4 liters of water and should have brought more or a filter (plenty of access to water along the way). I greatly appreciated my hiking poles for navigating the rocks on the trail both up and down the two miles before the lake. 

Colchuck Lake: is AMAZING. It's beautiful and worth the hike and I highly recommend a swim (it is cold so make sure you swim in a group). FYI there was a ranger in an inflatable kayak on the lake picking up trash and he had a camp set-up nearby. 

Trash and Toilets: There is a pit toilet and port-a-potty at the trail head. They were disgusting. The port-a-potty was overflowing with trash and the pit toilet was dirty. There was no toilet paper in either. There was trash at the lake and in some places along the trail. Please be kind and courteous and pack out what you pack in so we can continue to enjoy our beautiful trails. 

Animals: There were a lot of signs of wildlife along the trail including shedded bear hair, fresh mountain lion tracks and scat, and a bear cub and mama on the trail. We had to back track and make lots of noise and keep checking and waiting until they moved on and off the trail (about 1.5-2 miles from trail head).   

Bugs: I got eaten alive. I have bites on my fingers, scalp, arms, stomach... I was wearing "OFF" 40% deet bug spray and reapplied a few times. I only saw flies and they were all over me and a nuisance but I didn't feel them biting (but apparently they were or something else was after it got dark on us).