A beautiful hike. My gf and I did an overnighter, camping on the railroad grade trail to avoid the crowds and taking a separate side hike to the Butte and lookout for lunch & pictures. Snow free. Saw a family of deer near the TH. Lots of generous volunteer work parties doing trial maintenance on the first mile or so of the hike. Road to TH has significant potholes, but any car could probably make it. Mosquitos were out but weren't too noticeable until after sundown- even then it was only a 3/10. It was a Saturday, so a TON of people on the trail, (maybe ~125 hikers on the butte trail, and saw ~20 different climbing parties ascending the railroad grade headed to the summit) would recommend a week day if your schedule allows. Unfortunately, almost all dogs were off-leash and there were multiple tents set up right on top of the fragile vegetation near the tarns. There are a lot of sites in the area, please don't camp on the fragile areas folks are desperately trying to rehabilitate. One dog was running through the meadows, trampling over flowers and then proceeded to chase a marmot while its owner laughed and continued encouraging her dog. Be sure to pack a lot of water, the only good option we could really find was a trickling stream along the ascent to the lookout. One individual in another party injured their knee and needed to get airlifted out of the area. It was very unfortunate and saddening the injury occurred but it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience (hopefully) to witness the search and rescue helicopter do their thing from so up close. What fantastic and efficient work those folks do! We ended the day by hiking up to the top of the railroad grade trail for sunset, the way the mountains turned colors was just mesmerizing.
This is a popular hike (and one of my alltime favorites) for very good reason- the effort to reward ratio is fantastic, one of the most gorgeous and scenic places you'll ever visit!
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