PEOPLE. SO. MANY. PEOPLE!
PARKING. NO. PARKING.
We got there at 0720 and parking was chaos. Doesn't matter how early you get there, there will be no (close) parking. People car camp there overnight. You park where ever you can find parking, hopefully legally. But on our way back we did see so many illegally parked cars. To be honest it made it difficult to get out of the area we were parked in as people were still arriving. The parking issue shows how some people have little respect for NPS and NFS: not paying the day use fee, parking in foliage, dangerously parking on the road etc.
We started the hike at 0730 and finished at 1250. Took our time enjoying the scenery. We went counter clockwise. The beginning of the hike was just flooded with people bottle necking trying to get on the trail. As the hike went on, the density of the hikers dispersed and at the top is where you started to feel you had more space away from the crowd. Most people were respectful of staying on the trail, only saw about 3 groups blatantly ignore the signs indicating that area was closed for restoration.
The fall hike was so beautiful. The colors were popping off. The larch trees did not disappoint. Every corner, every straight away, every hill climbed, all had something beautiful to see. It was such a nice beautiful day, blue sky in the back to showcase the colors.
Highly recommend going on a weekday
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