Fantastic day on a fantastic trail. This was my first time (!) doing this popular trail and I'm very grateful I finally got the chance.
The trail is just a delight start to finish - no boring parts, fairly even grade. For a popular, widely trafficked trail, it definitely had its wilderness adventure component for me as well - the last approach to the lake out of Headlight Basin is extremely tricky, especially with melting snow bridges that obscure where the already obscure trail should be. It was unclear whether I was supposed to go on the snow bridges or around them, and I embarrassingly found myself offtrail and stuck scrambling on boulders a few times. Once I even wished I wasn't traveling solo, which is rare for me. Keep alert, have navigation and gps that's as accurate as possible, and if you're heading for something that feels dangerous, chances are you're offtrail! This report will be moot in a week or so after everything melts out, anyhow.
I hung out at both the lake and on the way back, the pass - which is really splendid and a worthy destination in itself. However - the lake is truly spectacular. Hard to define why, has to do with the shape of things, and scale, and sunlight/cloud combos, and possibly also that challenging approach that makes arrival something splendid. The walk from the pass through the basin is also not to be missed, especially with some lingering snow - dramatic and special, in an "I'm in the backcountry but still feel totally safe and protected and am only carrying a daypack" kind of way.
I started on a weekday at 7am and walked slowly - had the trail mostly to myself, there were a few folks at the lake who were mostly quiet, and I passed a few groups coming up on the way down, but the parking lot was only 1/2 full when I got down. The weather was ideal - not too hot, windy with changeable clouds, peekaboo glimpses of Rainier from the pass, warm enough to sun on a stone at the lake and then chilly enough to stop sunning and keep moving. It's exposed for a lot of the hike, though - on a super hot day would recommend starting early!
Road is fine, some potholes, my aged sedan did just fine.
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