Spectacle Lake — Saturday, Jun. 10, 2023

Overnighted at Spectacle Lake.

Trail was damp with puddles here and there, but nothing too bad. Mosquitos were present basically from trailhead to Pete Lake, but if you're moving, you'll probably be fine. They seemed to go away past Pete Lake or Lemah Creek or so.

Several blowdowns once you pass Pete Lake, but all were generally pretty manageable.

Most water crossings were quite manageable, stepping on rocks or bits of wood kept things dry. Some had logs/downed trees that were generally easy to walk across. We did ford Lemah Creek on the trip in, it was quite deep and had enough flow to be a little scary (I'm 5'11" and the water was high on my thighs); we found the trees that can be walked across on the way out (a short walk upstream from the Pete Lake/Spectacle Lake trail). The trees were probably preferable. On the way out, head up the Lemah Creek trail and look for a cairn. Follow that side trail a short ways. There will be a series of 3 trees to walk across to get across Lemah Creek (not in vision of each other). There were two other places where we forded: a stream before the bridge at the waterfall almost at the top and a little water just before the bridge (these two are probably less than 1/4 mile apart, so no need to change footwear twice).

There were places with snow to cross, especially as you get higher in elevation close to Spectacle Lake. These crossings did not require microspikes, but be very wary as many of them are very hollow underneath, so try to walk on the edges, if you walk on the snow at all. The snow patches were short, and likely to melt away soon.

We didn't camp on the peninsula, those spots were largely taken by the time we got there, so we camped more the the East of the Lake, which also had some decent spots.

All in all a good trip, with enough adventure to keep it interesting, but maybe more than first timers should do. Best 3 miles of the trail were the last 3 up to Spectacle Lake with lots of nice views.