Ashland Lakes — Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018

First the road going in: It has been said that any car can do any road, as long as you go slow. If you want to test that theory, this is your road! It is  nasty, rocky and rutted, with potholes you can practically swim in. It's bad! My brother had a big diesel truck with stick shift so we did fine, but  I don't know if I would have taken my Forester up there even if it wasn't in the shop. The trail itself is in good shape and there is a brand new metal bridge over the first creek. Lots of the boardwalk has been covered in new metal screening and some boards replaced. It is evident that the state agency (Discover Pass FYI) managing this area has put some money into it. There is new signage, each lake now has a nice loo (no excuse at all for the 'flowers') and new firepits. There is one blowdown between the Upper and Lower lakes, easily climbed over. The warning sign at the end of the lower lake about the Twin Falls Lake trail has been removed. We did not go check out the trail, time constraints. However, we heard the sounds of heavy equipment coming toward us from that direction. I'm hoping the work is down further on that trail. They must have come in from closed roads along Spada Lake. The lakes were calm and beautiful, the bugs were absent and we saw what I think was an American bittern on the far side of Upper Ashland. Too small and not the right color for a great blue heron and not the right color for a green heron.  This is a nice mellow hike for young families and creaky kneed hikers and it would be a shame to lose access to it because of the bad road. Since this road leads to three different THs, it would be nice to see even part of it graded. Oh and yeah there is a boat on the road, or what's left of one.  Still hikeathoning:  give.wta.org/Muledeer