Drove up in a Mazda 3 hatchback and was able to make it but did scrap the bottom on a couple of rough patches.  I believe the next rain storm could make it worse.

The trail itself was great.  There is one downed tree on the way to the third lake but can be climbed over.  Smaller dogs will need to be carried and I'm sure children will need help getting over as well.

Great hike over all, the lakes are beautiful.

This is a great hike for a cloudy misty spring day.  I had been here once before but it was over 20 years ago so it was pretty much like doing a new hike for me.

The gravel road to the trailhead is fairly poor shape with some large potholes. I'd recommend a vehicle with some clearance to avoid hitting bottom.

The trail starts off on a decommissioned logging road.  The first mile of trail traverses a fairly uninteresting 2nd growth forest.  The old growth forest starts off with an old Hemlock forest with occasional big Red Cedar. As you get closer to Upper Ashland Lake the there are many more big old gnarly Cedars with some interesting grotesque features.  The trees are so old that many are half dead and partially rotting.  It really gives the forest a lot of character.  The largest Cedar that I found measured a respectable 9 feet in diameter.

About a third of the trail is on raised boardwalks and puncheon because this area is very wet most of the year.  It must have been a very expensive trail to build.  Unfortunately it is falling into disrepair with broken planks and tilted walkways.  The planks got slippery when it started to sprinkle.

The trail beyond Lower Ashland Lake to Twin Falls has been abandoned by DNR.  There"s a lot of big windfall to negotiate here.  It's also pretty brushy. I also had a hard time finding the trail in a few places and did some unnecessary bushwacking that probably added an extra 30-40 minutes of travel time.  The trail is well established so if you are bushwacking then you are in the wrong place.  There are some helpful blue ribbons marking the trail but in one location the blue ribbon led me down a false path.

Once you get to the Twin Falls lake outlet don't cross the creek.  The path on the east side of the outlet stream will take you to an excellent view of the falls.

Since I had the entire place to myself, I took a short drone video of Twin Falls.  I absolutely never fly my drone when there are any people around.

On the return trip I decided to try walking around the east shore of Lower Ashland Lake.  Boy, that was a terrible idea!  It started off a bit muddy and brushy then deteriorated into a big boulder field followed by a brushy bushwack from hell.  Stick with main trail.

RT 8.2 mi, 1650 elevation gain.

This hike is a hidden gem!  We set out around  noon on Memorial Day looking for solace on Mountain Loop Highway.  That might sound like a daunting task but our goal was easily achieved at Ashland Lakes.  We only crossed paths with two other couples momentarily. There was one minor blow down but otherwise a very nice trail with a lot of resources put into it.   While the end destination offers up three small lakes; Beaver Plant Lake, Upper Ashland Lake and Lower Ashland Lake in that order, the true stars of this hike is the massive trees growing out of ancient stumps.  The birds were singing.  The creeks offering an intermittent song of their own as we walked through this quiet and serene landscape of awe inspiring trees.  I would recommend taking the short  detour to Beaver Plant Lake.  A bench sits at the edge of the lake where we took in the view listening to the occasional bullfrog croaking.  There is some nice campsites at the lake’s shores and I imagine you can hear a whole symphony of frogs in the evening.  While smaller than the other two lakes it happened to be our favorite.  Continue on to Upper Ashland and finally, Lower Ashland. The road is heavily potholed but determined small cars can make it just as we did.  You just have to go slow.  Very slowly.  There is no snow on road or trail.  Though not one to repeat hikes, I will do this one again.  I highly recommend this hike!  Loved the trees more than the lakes!  See pics