Rachel Lake — Friday, Oct. 21, 2022

Well, this was a very interesting day hike. We went on a Friday when the first rains came in after thick forest fire smoke blanketed the region over the last week or so. Firstly, I put in the coordinates given by WTA for the trail head, but it was about a mile short of the actual trail. Thank goodness I had a copilot in the car who found the trail head on her phone and talked me in. We were the first car in the parking lot around 9:30. The privy is no longer being stocked. The trail was in great shape for the first 2 miles. Just before the steep section there was one downed tree that obliterated the trail for about 50 feet requiring a walk around. The steep section was challenging, we often had to stop and check Gaia to find the trail. It started to snow around 4000 feet and the little Parson Russell terrier we were hiking with was soaked from the rain down below and by the time we got to the snow, he was shivering violently. We couldn't get him to warm up and actually had to turn around and go back down about 1/4 mile before the lake. There was some beautiful fall foliage and the rain was creating a lot of puddles as well as multiple small creek crossings. It's a beautiful trail, I was thrilled to be there in clear air, but I'm anxious to go back sometime soon to complete the hike to the lake.