Trail was in very good condition and the lakes were beautiful.  Stayed two nights at the site near Clara Lake that is clearly the most used as it had a rock fire ring and logs pulled up for seating.  

Definitely coming back for another trip in the next year or two, excellent hike and distance for someone learning backpacking and not wanting to go too far out into the woods and not wanting too much elevation gain.  I had my 13 year old miniature dachshund, so the hike was perfect for her.

Not too crowded, I was expecting more day hikers than showed up.  Highly recommended......

Lovely hike! No snow and trail is well maintained. My only gripe is the lack of switchbacks, so lots of steep hills to ascent. If you have hip pain like I do just pace yourself and you’ll be fine. The lakes are absolutely stunning and there is a bonus vernal pond between Clara and Marion.

Hiked today with 2 kids (almost 4 y/o and 1.5 y/o) and my husband. I mostly carried my 1.5 y/o (it was her nap time), but my 3 y/o did great. She could’ve hiked the whole thing (although slowly), but we didn’t know if it would rain so we carried her about 60% of the way up to move things along. She hiked the full way down. I’m also just about 9 months pregnant - noting that with respect to difficulty and how doable this hike is, even though I felt VERY out of shape with uphill portion haha. We saw no one. Very little snow to Clara Lake. A little more snow to Marion, but not bad at all. We all wore hiking shoes (no microspikes or anything needed). A tree that fell down hides part of the Marion Lake trail so we got off track, but we had the map downloaded on AllTrails and were easily able to bushwhack a portion to the lake. Both lakes are stunning. Not including pics because WTA doesn’t post any of my trip reports with pictures (I think it would work if I posted from my computer versus phone... IT issue... will always indicate “pending”).

I did some car camping near Mission Ridge and in the morning, ventured up to the end to the road as I had not been here before. Spying a trailhead near the parking lot gate, I realized I was at Clara and Marion Lakes.  I knew the trail was short and I had a map, so off I went.

I knew this is better known as a larch hike but the wildflowers were just right!  The trillium and glacier lilies were everywhere!  There were even a few balsam root.

Patches of snow on the trail started at about 5,200 feet and continued off and on until Clara Lake but were not an issue.  I arrived at the outlet for Clara and could hear a family camping in the trees on the right.

I knew that Marion carried around to the left so I walked up and around the lake then turned left and up away from the lake.  Snow mostly obscured the trail at first but then was spotty. 

Just before Marion there were two trees across the trail, one was easy to step over but limbs on the second was causing most to walk around on neighboring blueberry.  

Marion Lake presented itself at 5,520 feet and 1.5 miles up from the trailhead.  I walked past the spur down to the "island" and around where there was a view of what I think was Mission Peak.  Snow still lingered on the slope and I was surprised by all the slate and piles of volcanic rock. I had the lake to myself for awhile.

I scrambled around a bit past Marion until I heard the voices (hoops and hollers) of a group crossing over to the island and then I began my trip down.  Somehow leaving Marion I ended up on another trail that turned and followed more closely to the creek leaving Marion.  It was an actual path but was overgrown in spots, I could I was going to intersect the main trail eventually so I did not turn around. It brought me out just down from the stream crossing before Clara on an unmarked junction.  It was about 3.2 miles round trip and a little over 2 hours.

Hiked to Clara Lake with a small group. Ran into snow, especially closer to the lake. We had a hard time finding the trail to Marion Lake and ended up just enjoying Clara.