Lake Serene, Bridal Veil Falls — Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025

The road and parking lot are clear and dry, not even frost on the ground. The trailhead toilets are closed for the season. The trail to Bridal Veil Falls is in great shape and can be hiked without special gear—there is ice on the trail in spots but it’s not hard to walk on the edges of the trail to avoid it. The falls are mostly frozen and absolutely beautiful. The trail to Lake Serene is clear of snow until about the last half mile or so when you come out of the trees, and then there’s a lot of ice—microspikes highly recommended. But before that, there’s a scramble where several fallen trees form a landslide obstacle across the trail that requires some careful climbing to get over. Photos from either side of it attached to my report. The lake is frozen and can be walked across, and like the falls, is a spectacular sight. At 11:45am, the lake was still in almost full sun, but it was completely shaded by 12:15pm. The sun moves behind the mountains quickly this time of year!