On Satuday, August 9 I hiked in to Lake Janus from Smithbrook trailhead. The trail was snow free, but a few patches were near the trail. No snow at the Lake, but quite a few bugs. There are a couple of down trees across the trail, but it is easy to get around them. The trail (PCT 2000) is in good shape.

Beautiful day for a hike into an old favorite - Lake Janus. Trail is in decent shape considering the damage done to some trails over the winter. A few snow patches, but nothing daunting. Bugs at the lake were minimal, probably due to a mild breeze that kicked up every now and then. Was really surprised to see only a few people today. This is such a pleasant hike I thought it would probably be crowded on a day like today. By the way, the fish weren't biting very well today, although my partner managed to land a couple of nice ones at the far end of the lake.

Started our hike at Stephen's Pass parking on the north side by the power station/ gravel pile. Pleasant, sunny walk the first couple miles with little elevation change and a few bugs. After the first hour to hour and a half hiking encountered ~6 < 1 foot diam. blow down trees on trail and 2 > 1 foot which were easy enough for this 5'7"" hiker to get over. Additionally, the foot log over a stream is broken and tipped necessitating the use of rocks to cross over. Continuing on hubby and I encountered many snow patches with melting going on underneath and risk for post-holing. At about 5 mi. into the hike, Lake Valhalla came into view on the right and the trail completely disappeared in snow. We found our way to the Lake and checked out three of the campsites which all had a fair amount of water by them and lots of bugs. Don't often eat in our tent but ended up in there for some relief. Next morning with some difficulty found the PCT and headed further north to ""Union Gap"" at 1.8 mi. and then at 4 mi. Lake Janus. Trail had some snow patches . Bugs seemed even worse at Lake Janus so turned around to try to find a better lunch spot. Returned to Lake Valhalla for another night then left EARLY the next morning again having great difficulty finding the PCT trail south due to all the snow. Saw > 20 day hikers who came in on Smith Brook Road and hiked .9 mi. to Union Gap and then went either north or south on PCT. Only one other overnighter each night at Valhalla. I would definitely do this hike again but probably would enjoy it in the fall.

The trees have been cleared out of the road. There are two across the trail on the way to Union Gap but easy to get over and around. One is a large rotten cedar that I like to think a bear was rooting around in for bugs and it fell down onto the trail. Lots of snow still at Union Gap. Also snow where the talus slope is --looks like left over avalanche debris and there are some patches near the lake. Snow is melting out underneath-use caution or fall through like I did! The trail has water running down it in several places. No bugs and nice and cool with the snow! Beautiful day.

The Smith Brook road is blocked in the first mile or so by multiple big trees across the road. This prevents access to the Cress Trail north of Stevens pass, to Lake Janus and Lake Valhalla.