***** I hiked to Ashland Lakes but want to warn folks about the road that goes to all of these trailheads, and the trail to Bald Mountain from this access point. *****

Holy shmoly, the road leading to these trailheads is ROUGH. It's about 5 miles to Ashland Lakes (my destination) and it took nearly an hour of traversing giant, cratered potholes spanning the entire road in places, huge ditches of water on one side or the other of the road which often left a narrow gap of road that was navigable, or just rock-rutted road that you had to take slowly. I have a high clearance Honda Pilot and can't imagine anything less making it through that. The plus side is we saw two other parties (one on the way in and one on the way out) the whole day so mostly had all three lakes (Beaver Plant, and Upper and Lower Ashland Lakes) to ourselves. Do not go up there with a sedan or small car--you'll be towing your vehicle out.

The trail to Bald Mountain that lies between Beaver Plant Lake and Upper Ashland Lake has a big messy blowdown on it. It looks like you could carefully pick your way through, but it's a mess. I've included a picture so you can make up your own mind if you're planning to take that trail. 

As for the hike to the Ashland Lakes, it was pretty, but a little on the meh side. There were some wildflowers hanging on, but not in abundance. We saw some scattered pearly everlasting, spirea, a little bit of fireweed, the occasional twinflower, bunchberry in its berry phase, a few patches of declining arnica, post-bloom skunk cabbage, and one white hellebore with a beautiful tall flower stem with leaves mostly chewed out by bugs. I did see some interesting fungi, which, with the help of inaturalist I think may have been russula cerolens or russula pectinitoid, and fomitopsis ochracea.

Lower Ashland Lake seems to be favored over the upper lake in other trail reports and the WTA description, but it is ringed by brush and trees all around its shore with very few places from which to actually see the lake. It felt claustrophobic and dark. The lower lake's water is tinged brownish, which thanks to my expert outdoors knowledge from watching a few seasons of Alone (haha!) I think may be tannins from all the cedars around and in the lake's edges. I much preferred the upper lake, which has a more accessible shore and plenty of places to enjoy the lake, and somewhat clearer looking water. Also be aware that the boardwalk planking around Beaver Plant Lake is underwater in many places, so you can't walk around the lake in its entirety. The boardwalk trail partially around Lower Ashland Lake just disappears at one point and you have to detour through some campsites to pick it up again, but it's not hard to find. 

All three lakes have a handful of campsites with a metal fire ring at each site and a port-o-potty at each campground. We used the privy at Beaver Plant Lake, and it was almost full to the top with trash (plastic water bottles among other junk). I have no idea how they clean those out--do they helicopter in new ones and haul the old out? Or do some poor rookie rangers have to haul out the waste every so often? Whatever the case is, with the Covid shutdowns and our declining wilderness budgets, the one we used (and I suspect the others) is in dire need of attention. (We also stopped at the Verlot ranger station on the way in and used the privy--same situation. The regular toilets, as well as the ranger station building, were closed and they had two port-o-potties out front which were dangerously full.)

The campsites are nice, with the ones at the upper lake being my favorite; they were more open and near the lake than the sites at the other two lakes.

The trail is pretty varied; it begins with a nice wide (shale?) path and turns to dirt eventually, which becomes pretty rocky and rooty in spots, and even has a few sections of stairs. But overall, it's a fairly easy trail, certainly easy to follow (all junctions are clearly signed) and easy enough to stay safe on with a little attention in the rough spots (I was glad to have my trekking poles for balance in some of the bumpy places).

Road: Its quite long and has deep pot holes, but you'll be fine in a car that has some extra clearance, you wont need 4x4 but be ready for a bumpy ride in quite a few spots. Once you see the bathroom (closed at the moment) the trail is to the right of it.  

Trail: The trail was very well maintained, and is clearly marked. A bit of the trail is on elevated logs/walk way when it gets into not swamp, but wetlands spots along the trail and around the lakes (keep your eyes out for frog sightings) Beware of the round logs with score marks in them, they have retained moisture and are very slippery, they are steps up in several sections. The vast majority of the plank walk ways have metal mesh for traction and are not slippery. Overall the trail was not hard and could be done with kids/pets.

Sights/Views: While the trail is pretty, there is not a lot to see really until you get to the lakes where the views are really beautiful. Upper Ashland and Lower Ashland  where a great view, however Lake Access/View was limited to several stretches near the camp grounds.

However Beaver Plant Lake (The very first lake you reach on the hike) Was absolutely stunning with a very nice campground and brand new fire rings and a boardwalk right next to the camp that lead to a small bench out in the water that offers a fantastic view of the lake (see attached photos for the camp and boardwalk. If you love Dragonfly's your in luck there lots of them resting on plants near the water and near the campgrounds. The board walk stretches off to the left, however, several small sections are about 2-4 inches under the water, but are very stable.     

Bugs: I didn't wear any bug spray and didn't have any problems really, the only annoyance was several Horse Flys buzzing around my head. However I did see quite a few mosquitos off in the wetland areas, if your camping I would prepare for that, as the campgrounds are near the lakes.  

Camp Sites: This was a pleasant surprise to see actual campsites on the hike, I did not camp but the sites where very well maintained and had brand new fire rings in most of them. Also there was a bathroom at Upper Ashland lake, however it was a porty potty. The picture I attached is of the Beaver Plant campsite.   

Overall: This trail was great, The view of the lakes where really beautiful, (especially Beaver Plant Lake) The campgrounds also where very nice and I could see myself staying at them in the future. The Hike was not hard and the best part? Only saw one other group on our afternoon hike. The road to get there was a bit challenging and slow going, but very do able, plus it lowers the amount of people. Take the road less traveled as they say, for it has the trails with the least people :)

-Mike

I recommend having a higher clearance vehicle for this trailhead, but there were plenty of sedan cars that made it up from what we saw.

We hiked on a beautiful sunny day and the views were stunning! The first two lakes are absolutely worth your time, but the third lake trail was muckier and buggier. In all, we would have stopped at the second lake had we known. The trail seemed washed out in places and the campground was basically nonexistent with the amount of water on the ground. There was also an area to reach the other side of the lake that once had a bridge that has since been broken. You can scramble over the logs and water, but caution please.

The gravel road took us 45 minutes to go 5 miles. Unfortunately with the way the economy and world are going I don't see fixing this road on anyone's priority list, so enjoy being able to drive it while you can. The main trail was in decent shape, but all other trails are almost nonexistent. We hiked to the lower Ashland Lake, you can tell that once upon a time people really cared about these campsites, but that appears to be a thing of the past. Our purpose of the hike was to go berry picking for the high elevation Huckleberries, but to my disappointment the berries were not as abundant as previous years. I don't know wether or not it was the weather, but there were no flowers, green berries or old berries. Just a few handfuls of decent berries. It was a really long gravel road for a few handfuls of berries, but an awesome hike and awesome weather.

we went to 4 people Friday late afternoon hours, and road is bump so you need high clearance car. Trail is good condition, it has wood blocks on the way to walk on, some area you need slow and careful becaus1-slipry 2-wood angle kind of down hill edge, and you need very slow sometimes..watch your step where are you putting..
camp side some are not good to setup tents because wet from lake/rain and moody..we went to until lower Ashland, and stayed at one of point which has firepit..bench..and it was good to setup tents..Friday night we finished setup after 8 pm and it was kind of dark..tried camp fire but no dry wood pieces..Saturday i woke up 445am with out sleep almost and worked on camp fire..made it till night..weather was little bi chill Friday night and Saturday night was warm..we had great time..tried fishing but i don't think any fish can grown because no really river(s) coming to lakes..and a lot frogs..area has restrooms but fly and it was almost full..
water we filtered from lake, and boiled..not bad..mosquitoes around and yes they will get you..
returning time little bit raft because slippery many point waiting on your way..so take your time..it is between easy-moderate level hike...when you pass hard part it kind of flat and downhill..we did non stop return..i don't recommend with kid(s) unless you hold their hand..and winter time you can not make with any car to trail head..if you do hike will be not easy too..
driving time only 1 car drive on road..few point 2 cars can pass if they come cross to each others..so good luck when you drive there.. i recorded full video from trail head to Lower Ashland lakes when i was hiking..so you can see what is look like..it will be on youtube under backpackingvideos@gmail.com youtube channel.