Arrived at the trail head around 7:30am, claimed one of the few parking spaces open. A rewarding hike with a big payoff. There is maintenance happening to the trail, but it is unintrusive. It is nice to see so much work being done. Trail is clearly delineated. Passed a fair amount of dogs, all leashed. The hike down was a bit crowded. Large groups started to file in around 11am. 

My group got to the trailhead around 9 am, and the main lot was already full, and people were parking on the sides of the entrance to the lot. We ended up parking in the Hemple Creek Picnic Area, but that was pretty much full as well.  It was a very nice day so we knew it was going to be busy! There are bathrooms at the trailhead and both had toilet paper. In the morning they were pretty nice but in the afternoon one of them had poop on the floor right in front of the toilet :/ The trail itself is pretty nice at the beginning as it starts off flat with a nice layer of gravel, and then about a half mile in you start to climb. The climb is pretty consistent to the top so you definitely feel it but it doesn't feel super hard. There are lots of tricky roots, rocks, and eroding stairs the whole way up, which pose ample opportunity to roll an ankle. I wore my hiking boots and was very thankful for them, otherwise I probably would've rolled mine! There will be some serious work done on the trail this summer, as evidenced by lots of 6"x4"s and bags of gravel on the side of the trail. About halfway through the hike, there is a large pile of garbage on top of a piece of machinery, which was disappointing to see. There are a couple of downed trees you have to climb over and one very large one to go under, but nothing too tricky. The trail around the lake is very well maintained and is gorgeous to walk around completely. The bugs weren't too bad because there was a slight breeze. 

We got back to the car at 1:20 and there were cars parked on the side of the road for at least half a mile. My Garmin watch recorded 7 miles round trip with the loop around the lake and 1690 ft of elevation in around 3 hours and 30 minutes, not including relaxing at the lake for 30 mins. This hike is popular for a reason, and I am glad I did it! I'm excited to see what work will be done and how the trail will be improved once it is done. 

Arrived around 4:30 PM on 7/4 and there were 2 spots in the parking lot open as well as quite a few on the road. The trail conditions were very good with a lot of recent work done towards the bottom. There was a little water on the trail but nothing deeper than half an inch. There were people of all levels of fitness making it up and down. The only negative was the mosquitoes at the lake. We were going to grab a snack at the lake but then we would have been the snack. So we headed back down 5 minutes after we got to the lake. Total round trip for 2 reasonably unfit people was 2.5 hours.

I arrived to this trail at 6:50AM and the parking lot was full. I went over to the day use area and the first parking lot was full too. There is a second parking lot in the day use area and it was half full when I arrived. 

It looks like they are getting prepared to do a bunch of work on this trail as there are wood beams all along the trail. There is also a little tractor that was FULL and overflowing with garbage. LEAVE NO TRACE!! that includes your dog poop bags. 

TONS of bugs at the lake. Bring bug spray and sun protection! Definitely recommend doing the entire loop of the lake. 

When I completed the trail, the parking scene was INSANE. the road was lined with cars for miles. 

Beautiful warm conditions but breezy all along especially near the top.