Hiked Fri.July 11. Theme of this post-Leave No Trace. We Can Do Better.  Take Trash Home With You. If using the privvy toilet at the lake-PUT the TP in the box! Squatting behind a tree-Take you TP home with You. Shout out to Aaron & sons for trail cleanup. NOTE: Lake 22 trailhead and trail closed Mon-Friday, July 15-Oct. 31, 2025 for trail work.

WOWZA-trail improvements are noticed and appreciated! Thank you to all the agencies and people involved.

WOWZA-'the work cart trash  heap' at mile ~1.75 is just shocking, sad, infuriating. 

But WOWZA-thanks Aaron Loth for the clean up on Aisle 22. This is what kindness and caring look like!

Flowers blooming! Lake refreshing for wading. Waterfalls wonderful. 

Helpful Deets: Arrived 0830 on Fri. 7/11-parking 85% full, same when returned at 2 pm. But someone parked along highway, hopefully got a ticket.

Trailhead bathroom: Stocked and not bad. Thanks Verlot rangers. One door doesn't seem to lock.

A great day in the mountains.

Gorgeous day out on the trail! Easy, gradual pace through the shade for the first 1.5miles before opening up into a shale scramble with lovely views.

Prior reports noted the trash, but it seemed largely contained to the one large (very large!!) trash pile around the 1.5mile mark. We brought some bags to help clear out what we could—highly encourage anyone trekking there in the next few days to help pack out some of the collected trash!

We arrived to the trailhead at 6:30 with only a few other cars at the trailhead. We were prepared for a difficult hike as we are both beginners. The hike was hard, especially during the long rocky portions with direct sun. We got to the lake around 8am. The lake was beautiful, very calm and peaceful. I took this hike 8 years ago and I am sad to report that the lake has lost some of its beauty due to a lot of visitors and the pile of trash was no help. Please remember to leave no trace.

We were glad to do this hike before it will be closed for some much needed maintenance.

Great day for one of my all time favorite hikes - busy day but everyone was courteous and having fun.

We saw lots of cached supplies for upcoming trail maintenance - exciting as this trail needs some love from a few years of storm damage. There’s a blowdown that requires climbing over and quite a few rocks/water/mud/roots.

There’s been some maintenance since the last time I was here a couple years ago (thank you!)

Bugs really weren’t too bad but noticeable - more flies than mosquitoes.

Lots of people swimming and one person paddle boarding which looked fun.

Walked around the lake for the first time!

Beautiful forest and creek with occasional glimpses of waterfalls. Lake beautiful as usual.

Per other reviews, I made sure to arrive at the parking lot by 8:30 am.  There were still quite a few empty spots.  This may have been due to the weather; low clouds and drizzle.  Hiking up, I only ran into one hiker coming down.  I did have my dog with me.  Luckily all of the dogs we did encounter were leashed.  I must have hiked on a good day as most of the hikers followed hiking etiquette and no one was playing loud music.  I did have some issues with the rocky parts of the trail (over half).  If I didn't have good hiking boots and one hiking pole (other hand holding the leash), I could have easily rolled an ankle especially adding in the drizzle making some of the rocks slick.  The lake was beautiful despite the low clouds.  Due to popularity of this hike and the rocky terrain, one and done.