Our group of three did a quick overnight to Hester Lake. We camped at Hester Lake, with a side trip up to Little Hester before dinner on Day 1.
QUICK STATS: Took us about 4:45 to reach Hester Lake from the trailhead. It was about a 2:00 round trip to Little Hester (details below). Time to return to the car was about 3:45, not including an hour we spent bushwhacking up to the ridge south of Hester Lake.
PEOPLE: We saw absolutely no other hikers during our trip. There were maybe 10 cars at Dingford Creek when we arrived Monday morning, and only 5 cars when we returned Tuesday mid-day. The bathroom at Dingford Creek is open and stocked.
HIGHLIGHTS: The berries! The entire Hester Creek Valley and everything around the lake is filled with ripe huckleberries. There are several different varieties, each with a distinct flavor. Also, there were hardly any bugs.
DINGFORD CREEK TRAIL: This is in great shape. The first mile is a steady climb through logged forest, but once you enter the ALW, it's a beautiful old-growth forest trail with a very slight grade. There are two new blowdowns since the June logout. One is before Pumpkinseed Falls and can be pretty easily walked under. The other is between Pumpkinseed Falls and Goat Creek and is a pretty easy climb-over. Both will require a crosscut saw to remove.
HESTER LAKE TRAIL: This trail is a bit more "adventurous", with a significantly lower trail quality in all respects. However, the lake is beautiful and the camping is very peaceful! The creek crossings are not an issue at this time. We brought water shoes, but crossed both ways just in our boots. At the widest Dingford Creek crossing, use the right-hand crossing going in - there are rocks to step on and getting out of the creek is a lot easier. As always, there are plenty of muddy spots on the trail. It also gets very brushy, especially as the trail flattens out near the lake. We should have brought our clippers to work on this area - maybe next time! There are two main camps at Hester, one for 3 or 4 tents, another for probably 2 tents. There are a few smaller sites scattered around, most only big enough for 1 or 2 tents. There is also a camp near a creek at Hester Meadows, approximately elevation 3350'. It's not near the lake, but you could camp there and hike up to the lake with a light pack.
LITTLE HESTER LAKE: Two of us had the benefit of a raft to get to the other side of Hester Lake, which wasn't necessarily faster, but was a lot more pleasant! I bushwhacked my way around the north side of Hester before climbing SW up to Little Hester. There are rumors of a "trail" you can sort of follow, but I didn't bother looking for it, and I think it's extremely faint at best. It took about an hour to get up to Little Hester - YMMV depending on your tolerance for pushing through brush and climbing over giant boulders and blowdowns. The worst part, by far, was the brush closest to camp at Hester Lake.
"MT. PRICE FOOTWAY": If you look carefully, you will see an old Forest Service sign on a tree left of the trail about 5-10 minutes before you reach Hester Lake - it's right as the trail is starting to flatten out. I've been curious about this sign for years. Right now the only part still readable is "MT. PR", but from old photos I know it used to read "MT. PRICE FOOTWAY". Two of our party bushwhacked all around and up to the ridge from this sign, and found nothing that remotely resembled an old trail. No cut logs, no overgrown tread, nothing. There are some nice views up on the ridge, but they are mostly obscured by trees. Some huge boulders make things interesting. The mystery still remains about what exactly this "footway" was!
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