Ashland Lakes — Friday, Aug. 5, 2022

Had to move out of state for work. Desperately missed the PNW and needed a long weekend back to recharge. The WTA is a special organization and the community it helps create is unrivaled. The trail descriptions and trip reports are so much more helpful than other platforms. Took advantage of the opportunity to visit home and rented an SUV to hit some trails we couldn't with a sedan when we lived in state. Ashland Lakes was one. Glad we never tried the road with our Civic. It's awful. Even with a high clearance vehicle we still bottomed out. Plan for a 40-45 minute drive after you get off Mountain Loop Highway. The road is also narrow in addition to being rough. Encountering another vehicle requires significant car ballet in some spots. Eventually made it to the trailhead. Only three other vehicles there. As others have reported, the toilet at the trailhead is closed. The trail itself is in great shape. All three lakes were beautiful. Bugs were present but not aggressive. Lunched at Lower Ashland Lake and headed back. Wanted to loop around the other side of Upper Ashland Lake on the way back, but there was not a clear way across the lake outlet. Some logs there but water levels are high. We went back the way we came and tried the trail from the other side of Upper Ashland Lake, but it is clearly not as well maintained and so we turned around. In all, was a gorgeous hike on a perfect PNW day.