Silver Lakes, Mount Townsend — Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024

Hiked from the upper Townsend TH, traversed the ridge to the Silver Lakes trail after summiting, and overnighted at the lake with a side trek up to the ridge above. All trails are in tip-top condition, even the unofficial ones, just note that the proper path up to the ridge leaves from the campsites high on the east side of the lake. You can head straight up from the meadow like I did, but it turns into a hard, steep scramble and it doesn't have to be that way. Anyhow, views were spectacular everywhere and I would've liked to take more time up on the ridge, but my canine companion was over it, so down we went.
It was a full house of campers at the lake, as one would expect for a warm Labor Day weekend, but not so crowded that anyone was truly piled on top of one another; I arrived around 1pm and had zero issues getting a nice spot. Otherwise, nice to see a few lingering wildflowers on the shoreline and bugs were buzzing, but not really biting. Didn't really see any wildlife, but I did spy a few bats circling in the morning, so that was cool.
One last note: water is getting scarce and both the pond at Camp Windy and Silver Lake like to kick up a lot of silt, so your best, easy-access refilling source is Silver Creek before the lake.