I had not been to Melakwa Lake this early in the year before and it was neat to see the differences. There is a lot of water, the falls are raging and there are lots of seasonal falls coming from seemingly everywhere above you. Really stunning. That said the water also makes the two stream crossings more exciting. I was able to keep my boots wet, but it's definitely "balance on a wet log" territory. Some portions of the trail resemble a creek more than a trail, I highly recommend treking poles.
As others noted there is not a lot of snow, but there's also not an obvious path through some of the snow. I lost the trail a bit on the way up and just headed up hill in the general direction of the pass. It was steep, but got the job done. The pass itself was mostly snow free with it really only coming back in at the lake itself.
I ran into several people and none had actually seen the lake because of turning around early or being fogged in. I lucked out and things burned off shortly before I got to the lake, having the basin all to myself. I didn't see a path to the upper lake, but decided to make the trek anyway. This was almost all on snow and at a steep angle down to the lake edge, probably the least enjoyable portion of the hike. I did my best to leave a boot path.
The low clouds/fog came back and obscured Melakwa Pass so I didn't continue too much farther than Upper Melakwa Lake, but all in all awesome views and I will be back in a few weeks to see how things have changed.
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