Ashland Lakes — Sunday, Jun. 3, 2018

Arrived at the trailhead at 8:15 on Sunday morning.  Overcast day, but not raining.  Just two other cars in the parking lot at that time.  There is a vault toilet there, but pretty unsightly.  No toilet paper and since there is no trash can in or near it, apparently some people feel the right thing to do with their trash, beer cans, dog waste bags, and curling iron (really!) is simply to throw it all on the floor of the restroom.

The road up to the trailhead is rough once leaving the Mountain Loop Highway and I was glad to be in a high clearance 4WD vehicle.

The trail is in good shape as far as Lower Ashland Lake and is quite pleasant once it leaves the old logging road.  Much of it on raised boardwalks that are also in good shape given the amount of rain and snow that falls in this area.  Only the occasional loose or missing plank.  The area seems pretty low in elevation, so I was actually surprised to see that there was some lingering snow off to the sides of the trail in early June, especially since we just finished a record warm May.  The trail is not very steep and the mileage to the lakes passes quickly.

When I got to lower Ashland Lake, I wasn't ready to turn around and call it a day.  As it was only about 10:00 am, I decided to try the unmaintained trail to Twin Falls.  I have read reports that the trail is closed, both in the WTA Hiking Guide and in Day Hiking North Cascades.  However, there is nothing to indicate that it is formally "closed."  It is certainly not encouraged as there is no signage pointing the way and it is definitely not maintained, and looks like it hasn't been for quite a while.  The trail takes off to the right just prior to the log bridge over the outlet of lower Ashland Lake.

It is downhill from Lower Ashland Lake to Twin Falls, so uphill on your way out.  The trail continues on raised boardwalk through the forest, though in this section there are many loose, sideways, or missing sections of boardwalk.  Numerous blowdowns too, vegetation encroaching from the side in places, some slides and washouts and the trail is a times difficult to find. All of the items I listed as obstacles in this trip report occur on the Twin Falls leg of the trip (the trail is near perfect as far as Lower Ashland Lake).  That said, it is doable by anyone up for a bit of an adventurous scramble.  No serious bushwhacking required.  In fact, if you are doing that, you made a wrong turn.  Go back to the last place you didn't need to bushwhack and look for ribbons in the trees.  They are there in places where the trail direction is not obvious.

I had the falls to myself and it was a pleasant place to have lunch before the return journey.  If there is a trail down to the pool at the bottom of the lower, and larger, falls, I didn't see it.  I did not encounter any other hikers in either direction between Lower Ashland Lake and Twin Falls.  It would be nice to see this trail get a little rehabilitation so more people could enjoy it.

When I got back to Lower Ashland Lake, there were a handful of hiking groups there, and one or two at both upper Ashland Lake and Beaver Plant Lake, which I actually thought was the nicest of the three and requires a very short detour from the main trail to see.  I did put on bug spray at one of my stops as I noticed a mosquito on my wrist and there were some other swarming insects.  Overall, however, the bugs were not too numerous.  However, I imagine that given all the relative calm and shallow water of the lakes and the boggy surroundings that this area could get pretty bad with bugs.  The rain held off all day and started almost as soon as I got back to the Mountain Loop Highway.