Parked at 7am and on the trail at 7:20am. At the 2nd bridge we did not cross, there is a trail a little to the right (you will see it). That way you don’t have to cross again at camp handy. This trail met directly with the goat lake trail.
the first 4 miles was nice, shaded, lush. The next 2 miles were tough w/ 3,000 ft gain. It was mostly dry. A couple muddy spots.
first snow patch on trail was at 5600 elevation! This trail is south facing (lots of sun!). Snow did not become constant until 5800-5900 when u have to go up a tiny lip in order to go back down to the lake (also at 5900). This is where it got tricky.
the trail turned into a snow bridge, w/ tough incline, covered in snow, and you could see the creek was flowing really strong underneath, as you could see (from a distance) massive melting holes (and the creek was like 4 feet down). Not something we were gonna get anywhere near. Climbers right there were some snow patches that we would have needed ice axes for (we didn’t bring them). We opted for climbers left where we found a spot to cross the creek safely (1 foot hop from grass to grass), and avoided snow 100% to the lake (rocky stuff, but nothing with bad runout). Some nice flat campspots were back there.
Overall, a lot of flowing water for the majority of the hike (for those bringing a dog). The trail was dry! Lots of wildflowers (like 10+ colors). Even found Rhodies blooming up high (and along the Dungeness).
we took a lot of breaks up and down. We were back to the car at 4pm. 12 miles, 4100 ft RT
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