Wonderful, easy little walk up to a beautiful vantage point over the lake with a few benches and plenty of big, flat rocks to spread out and have a leisurely lunch.

The trail starts out a little before a footbridge over a rocky, clear-flowing creek cutting through the trees. If you've got a filter available, now is the time to fill up (or use the water spigot available at the campsite right before the trailhead).

Great hike for all skill levels and doable with any kind of footwear in dry conditions like today. The path is gently ascending throughout, passing by tremendous views of nearby peaks and with plenty of opportunities to sit and take it all in at benches placed along the trail.

Full disclosure we did not hike any of these trails but thought some planning help might be good for folks who are wondering what conditions might be like. 

We drove highway 20 today, Friday and checked out conditions along the way. Let me start with the most popular hikes.

Blue Lake has parking for a dozen vehicles at most and about three feet of snow on the ground. There will be continuous snow the entire way.

Heather/Maple Pass has zero parking. There is a huge berm of snow blocking parking, go somewhere else🙁

Cutthroat Lake has snow from just about the turn off from hwy 20 so add one mile of walking to this trip. 

Driveway Butte is clear to the parking and then hikable for the first few miles. Expect snow once you’re in the burn area. 

Cedar Creek’s parking is readily accessed and is probably snow free for quite a ways. 

Many of the more westerly highway 20 hikes should be easily accessed, Falls Creek Falls, Thunder Knob, Happy Creek, Gorge Creek Overlook….

The Methow Valley is gorgeous, most trails are open and the wildflowers are just bonkers.

Be safe, and enjoy your day.

Great day in the North Cascades! Always love this one either early or late season. Drove all through first to check out HWY 20 and it was in great shape.

Absolutely fantastic hike! At nearly every turn there is another beautiful vista and/or another perspective of the surrounding area. Thanks to WTA for the work done on the approach to the stream! Much easier to find where to cross than before. No bridge to cross the stream yet… we did find out that our hiking boots are mostly water resistant.

On the day we hiked there were four fallen trees to navigate over up to the mosquito pond at about 1.63 miles. There were another four fallen trees after the mosquito pond up to the knob area. None were too difficult to navigate over or under.

Very few bugs. Be sure to bring sunscreen when it is a sunny day. The area of the knob can have a cool breeze even on a sunny day. Being layered really helped.

We started at 11:00 on a beautiful Friday. Started down at 1:00 pm. We encountered one or two others in the morning yet quite a few in the later afternoon. Earlier in the day seems to be better to avoid a group.

Just an outstanding hike. We look forward to taking this hike again!

As I was headed home going west on SR 20 I came across a line of stopped cars in front of me.  Another man walked up to the head of the line, where we could see flashing blue lights (probably the Washington State Patrol).  The man returned and said a helicopter had landed on the road.  So after waiting about half an hour I decided to turn around and hike the nearby Thunder Knob trail.  Of course, about the time I started hiking the trail the helicopter took off (I presume with an injured motorist, who I hope is okay).

The Thunder Knob trail is usually a very busy trail, but today there was only one other couple on the trail.  At the trailhead there are lots of signs saying "Trail Bridge Has Been Removed, Unsafe River Crossing."  It may be unsafe when lots of water if flowing, but I did not consider it unsafe for me on this day. (see photo)  The National Park Service has to be super-cautious so novice hikers don't get into trouble. 

After crossing the creek the trail switchbacks up to the top of Thunder Knob, where there are views in all directions.

On the way down I counted the number of trees that have fallen across the trail.  I counted nine (9) of them, with one of them being a leaner across the trail that I recommend also be encouraged to fall down.