Did a 4th of July hike at Melakwa Lake to avoid the crowds that seemed inevitable at the other I-90 lakes. We got to the parking lot around 9am and had no trouble getting a spot, but there were a lot of cars. It was completely packed with people going to Denny Creek when we left around 2 or so.
I put snow free because there's really only one section of snow you have to cross, it's only about 10ft at most and there's a very good chance it'll be completely gone by the time you read this. Bugs were definitely annoying but we didn't see any of the biting kind thankfully (although we all had some of the mosquito patches on). From what we could tell though, if you were overnighting it would be awful at dawn/dusk.
Fantastic trail. The lake is beautiful, and the mountains are pretty much right on top of you. Really good variety in terms of views with creeks, waterfalls, valleys and more. It's definitely more work than the average hike but don't be scared of by the WTA site marking "hard." This one pales in comparison to most of the I-90 hikes. It's mostly just constant uphill as opposed to being particularly steep at any point.
Be careful on some of the turnouts on some of the switchback sections. Nasty looking drop into the creek.
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