Great! No snow. A little mud. A small crowd.

As part of our annual springtime conditioning we climbed up to Lake Serene. Even with the presence of Tall Yellow Violets, Bleeding Hearts, Salmonberry and Trilliums the first 1.5 miles of the old logging road which gets you to the real trail are as monotonous as ever, and I might say hard on one's feet. We had put on gaiters in anticipation of some of the muddy and slushy sections higher up on the trail, but could have done well without them. The rocky sections of trail before and between the stairways seem to be getting rockier every season. The presence of trash along the trail, such as beer and pop cans, often on very steep slope and therefore difficult to retrieve, was disheartening. Despite all this it was still a worthwhile trip, and Bear our Black Lab enjoyed it immensely fetching his ball from the icecold lake.

Decent sized sinkhole in the first mile but easily passed. Lots of erosion crossing the creek early on will need repair. Alot of water on the trail from the rain and melting snow, some mud. Take extra socks. Two minor blowdowns, both easily passed. Saw the usual people in tennis shoes, jeans, and T-shirts, some without raingear - be smart people. Also fresh mountain bike tracks. This is a hiker-only trail - though I am impressed people are good/masochistic enough to ride a trail with so many stairs and rocks. Left around 9am with high clouds but no rain. Put rain gear on at the falls and never took it off. Falls are running as big as I've ever seen, be very careful around them. The lake is covered in a heavy slush and melting. Could see about 3/4 of the way up Index and spent about half an hour watching avalanches. Rain started to pick up, cold air came out of nowhere, and it snowed for a bit. Headed back down. Returned to the car around 2pm and on the drive back there were plenty of high puffy clouds and blue sky on the way. Sometimes it pays to sleep in. More trip photos: http://www.pbase.com/billcat/

The weather report was 70% chance of showers plus thunderstorms and hail. Ha! It was sunny and warm up by Index and I was in shorts and t-shirt coming down from Lake Serene. The trail itself is a stony, rocky dwarf type trail, not at all the type that us elves prefer. There is a medium sized blowdown just past Bridal Veil falls and a big nasty blowdown further up. The footbridge over Bridal Veil falls is in danger of washout from a new stream that undercuts the west pylon. Snow begins about 2400 feet but is never a problem. At the lake itself the snow is only from 4 to 6 inches. Everything was very wet today because of the high temperatures and lots of melting. Overall the trail is clear but deceptive. Up to the falls it paces leisurely through beautiful green rain forest. Then it gets serious. Many stony switchbacks and strenuous stairs climb aggressively up the hill to the lake. Some very good engineering work by trail builders. Lake Serene is iced over and beautiful. The mountains all around the bowl are snow covered. Mt. Index put on a lively thunderous cascade of avalanches the whole time we were at picnic rock by the lake. Very noisy place considering we were alone in an isolated place on a weekday. Marvelous day of hiking.

I arrived at the trailhead early in the afternoon. My initial plan was to hike Lake Dorothy, but after having some issues with my car, I decided to go to Lake Serene instead. I was the only one on this hike and saw no one during the whole trip. During the first mile, you pass birch trees and do not have much cover from the sky. Early on, there is a sink hole in the middle of the trail, but you can walk around it. At 1 1/2 miles you have the option to hike to Bridal Veil Falls or continue to Lake Serene. There's no reason why you can't do both. It's only a 1/2 mile to the Falls. The trail to the falls is in great condition. At the fork in the trail, it's 2 miles to Lake Serene. Except for the first 1/4 mile, or so, you climb continuously to the lake. The trail is rocky with many stairways along the way. Snow made its appearance during the last 1/3 mile. The snow was about 2 - 4 inches deep. When off the trail, at the lake, the snow was about 8"" deep. While at the lake, it was extremely windy. The lake is about 99% frozen. There was a lot of snow sliding off Mt Index. It began raining while I was sitting at the lake. I was surprised to find litter on the trail. There wasn't much, but finding any trash is disappointing. I picked up what I could see, then hiked it out. In total, there were two blow-downs, but you can easily navigate over or around them. There is much to see on this hike, an alpine lake, a couple of water falls, you cross over the creek a few times, Mt. Index, the valley below, numberous birds and deer.