Getting there was a breeze! The road is in great condition, there were no potholes! Smooth sailing, it wasn’t overgrown, we did not see another person for all 5 hours we were out. The trailhead can fit 15 cars, we had ample space. There are no restrooms, there wasn’t trash at the trailhead or throughout the trail which was a great bonus! Pack it in and pack it out seems to be in great practice out here! Let’s keep it up folks! You won’t find much info on the board at the start of the hike so prepare accordingly.
Heads up: Some point in the drive up to the trailhead be cautious of 2 large rocks roughly the size of tires sitting off to the side of the forest service road.
The weather was cool in the morning, high of 84, it was quite humid since there is tree cover everywhere except at the peak before making a short descent to the alpine lake.
The trail had well over 7 downed large trees, these weren’t too difficult to climb over, under, or walk around. There was little room for error on the trail as it’s quite narrow. Watching your step with gear is important while walking around or over the fallen trees. I still think this hike is great even with the added obstacles and completely worth it!
The hike up is strenuous as it’s quite steep, there are lots of mosquitoes, massively large flies, beautiful flowers, and a wonderful but sensitive alpine meadow! The flattest part of the hike at the top where you can see alpine meadow, had no snow, and some boggy areas that were not too terribly muddy. Gorgeous look outs and wonderful changes of scenery throughout the climb in elevation!
The steepest portion of this hike is making it down to the lake, watch your step as some spots don’t have tree roots to climb onto and can be slippery. I definitely recommend wearing sturdy shoes for this hike! I am usually someone who wears chacos and I’m glad I did not!
Once reaching the lake there is a small trail to the left that leads to a flat rock allowing you to push off into clear crisp water! Swimming felt fantastic definitely recommend! It’s quite shallow the first couple feet from the waters edge!
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