Even with the parking lot mostly full, hiking to Lake Caroline was very quiet. Overnight trips require a special permit, which prevents crowding, and we were one of only two parties camped at Caroline on Saturday night. Smoke went away pretty quickly on Saturday and was replaced by lots of clouds and light rain for most of the weekends. Bugs are completely gone.
The trail to Caroline is in pretty good condition, but there are a few blowdowns to navigate over/around. It definitely makes you work hard going up, but fortunately there are nice views down to Eightmile and over at the Enchantments to keep you going. Despite hiking in that middle point between the summer peak flower season and the bright autumn foliage, there were still plenty of flowers out, though many of them are starting to look wilted and dusty. Paintbrush and aster are particularly plentiful and stunning, as well as the person-tall fireweed down on the Eightmile trail before it splits off towards Caroline. I thought it felt like hiking through someone's forgotten garden.
The trail from Caroline to Windy Pass is also in good condition, and the side trail off to Little Caroline is worth a look, especially for the pretty meadow area past the lake. I was surprised at how mildly graded the trail to the pass was -- much easier than the trail to Caroline. The pass was entirely socked in with no views, but the meadow views on the way to the pass still made it worth the trip.
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