My husband and I went up around noon and had great weather. No snow on the ground, and the unsaved road leading up to the parking lot was clear of any obstacles. The trail itself had several downed trees in the way, but none that were so big or dangerous that you couldn't step or climb over them. Our dog handled the hike well. and there were lots of mushrooms! we arrived at rhe lake, had a clear view of the mountain. Great trail for beginners or for those who don't want any massive incline to climb up.

The trail has a reputation for fallen trees and today it lived up to it. I counted sixteen across the trail. Most were easy step over but there was that had to be climbed over and one that I had to crawl under. Some were "splatty" trees that were so rotten they break into soft red pieces and turn to mush. The condition of the trail itself is generally good but there is some standing water in the cribs. The foot bridge is showing quite a bit of wear-the railing is departing from the deck and is dangerous to lean on. one of the posts is completely detached-see railing image.

It is still a fascinating hike, both the trail, the lake and the view of Baring Mountain in the shade and Merchant Peak in the full sun in the opposite direction. 

The access road is in good condition with very few potholes. There is evidence of lots of downed trees having been removed from the road.

When I returned to the trailhead there were 29 vehicles in the parking lot and parked alongside the road. The restroom appears to be closed for the season.

We decided to try the hike to Barclay Lake in part because none of us had been there since before the Bolt Creek fire and in part because it was an easy trail to take with a toddler.  We arrived at the trailhead at about 11:00 and took our time.  There were about a dozen cars in the lot and just a couple parked on the road.  The toilet at the trailhead was open and stocked and relatively clean. 

It was a cool, cloudy day with the promise of rain later in the day, so the forest was dark and moody leaving the trailhead, with a gentle downhill.  We started to notice a wide variety of mushrooms along the trail and a few muddy spots, but not too bad.  The trail was not crowded.  On reaching the burned area we could see bare trees extending uphill on the right of the trail, but not much below the trail to the left.  Beyond the burn area was a section with large trees growing on top of equally massive boulders.  Truly impressive, 

Arriving at the lake we found a few of the campsites occupied, but everyone was just relaxing and enjoying the afternoon.  The lake was about 3-4 feet below normal levels, so the ends were marshy and along the north side of the lake a gravelly beach was exposed.  This was really nice for our toddler to get to walk right down to the water's edge.

Mount Baring was its usual imposing self above the lake.  Interestingly, much of the forest facing towards the lake seemed to escape the ravages of the big fire. We did encounter a few sprinkles while at the lake but returned to the cars just before it started raining in earnest.  

It was cool and overcast this morning so I decided to do another lake hike, and this is one of my favorites. I reached the trailhead shortly before 9am, counting about a dozen other cars there (mostly overnighters). The road is indeed smoother than years prior, with no more large potholes and only a couple spots where a sedan would want to navigate carefully to avoid scraping on rocks. It was just chilly enough that I donned a sweatshirt, although by the time I reached the lake the clouds started to dissipate and the sun came out so I took it off. I had the trail mostly to myself while hiking in, which was par for the course as the mobs don't usually show up on this trail until around Noon.

I marked "Fall Foliage" as the undergrowth is turning color, but it's all just ugly rotting brown and yellow leaves so don't expect a colorful show. The trail was completely clear of obstacles, something I will no doubt remember in a few months when half the trees fall across the trail like they do every winter. The burn areas from the 2022 Bolt Creek fire are full of lush green undergrowth now, contrasting with the dead but still standing trees all around. Barclay Creek is completely dry at the moment.

It took me just 45 minutes to reach the lake, and the reason for the creek being dry was readily apparent as the lake is really low right now. In fact it is so low that after resting for a few minutes and having a snack I decided to try reaching the opposite side. The marshy east shore was a challenge due to deep boot-sucking mud, but by walking on the vegetation and staying as far away from the water as I could I managed to make it across without getting my boots too muddy. I discovered four small circular pools in the marsh, and upon close examination realized that they are feeding underground water up and into the lake. I've never seen that sort of thing before and it was kinda neat.

I made it to the south shore and decided to try and circumnavigate the entire lake, which I accomplished without much difficulty. That way I also avoided having to make it back across the marshy swamp. By that time folks were showing up at the lake and the north beach had multiple groups checking it out. I did a complete loop of the lake and rejoined the trail at the same location where I had been snacking earlier. A couple groups of overnight campers were packing up and leaving and more people were arriving by the minute, so I bugged out of there.

I returned to my vehicle at 11:30am and by then the line of cars stretched about two hundred yards down the road. I then followed a black Tesla carefully making its way back down the forest road to Hwy 2, which was a strange coincidence considering I drove behind an identical-looking car during last weekend's hike as well.

Today I made an unsuccessful attempt to go to the Eagle Lake from Barclay Lake.

I started the hike around 9 am and the weather was really nice, just a little drizzle.
The 4 mile long road from the Hwy 2 is in good shape. I've been to this Lake 2 times before in winter, and every time I struggled to reach the Trailhead.
Most of the potholes are gone now, seems like significant road work has been done in the past 1 and a ½ years.
only 7 cars were at the trailhead in the morning.

It took me 1 hour to reach Barclay Lake, ran into a few returning backpackers. I took a 15 minute break at the Lake and then started looking for the Eagle Lake trail.
I somehow found the trail from the 2nd Toilet sign, followed the track and ended up with a faint trail going upwards.
that's the Trail to the Eagle Lake.
However, pretty quickly I lost the trail again, there are a ton of Fallen trees in that section and navigating through that was really difficult..
after going ½ mile up, I found the Half broken Wild Sky wilderness sign, and few ribbons..
from here the trail again gets lost. I couldn't figure out which way exactly to go, as there was another huge fallen tree was in front of me.
In that short distance, I ended up eating so many spider webs ( they are everywhere 😓), and a tree branch (2nd picture) was almost about to make me blind.🥲

I realized it's not worth it, especially today! my trail pant got completely wet due to all the water from the trees. and the trail was really steep and slippery. Perhaps, I can try again on a dry summer day!

I was pretty disappointed not to make it to the Eagle Lake, but then I saw things near the Barclay Lake which made me disgusted.
Near the first pit toilet, people desecrated that area with toilet papers, Kleenex lying on the ground. It felt like someone left a paper trail to the Pit Toilet.
I felt bad and started picking up trash on the trail.
Scanned most of the campground area, found so many disgusting things! broken glass bottle, beer cans are pretty common!
Found a men's underwear (3rd picture) next to a campsite. I don't know what kind of human can do this. 🤦🏻

I picked up a few ziplocks too, Protein bar packets etc. This trail was really dirty, especially near the Lake area!
Please please follow the Leave No Traces principles..Pack it in, Pack it out.
If you can't, stay home!
Honestly, I do not enjoy picking up trash on trail.😡
At the end, I ended up picking up quite a sizable amount of trash in this trail.
Hope at least for a few days, this beautiful place could stay litter free!

Btw, There are a lot of Mushrooms growing in that forest now!
(4th picture)