Road to trailhead is in good condition and completely snow-free. Trail is mostly snow-free. From reading earlier reports, I'd expected the trail to be much muddier than it was; there were a few muddy spots, but nothing out of the ordinary. Barclay Lake is still about 50% ice covered, mainly near the outlet. Just about all of the campsites were snow-free. I lost count of the many tiny avalanches off Baring Mt. With binoculars I was able to spot several chunks of ice bouncing down the mountain into the trees half a mile below. By the way, there's an unmarked pit toilet at the trailhead; look behind the big rock a few steps up the abandoned logging road to the right of the trail.

Cathy's been most everywhere, from Zanzibar to Barclay Square. But she hasn't been to Barclay Lake. There is about six inches of new snow. The snow covers up what would be an otherwise very muddy trail. There is only one large windfall on the trail alongside the lake. There are flags marking the trail to Eagle Lake for those so inclined. Barclay Lake is still about 90% iced, but there are some snow-free areas to set down a tent. As the sun warmed Baring Mountain, there were frequent avalanches and rockfalls sliding down the slope. Good thing the mountain is on the other side of the lake. There were some bunny and fox tracks, but they were in different places so Brer Fox probably had to join Yogi in pilfering picnic baskets. http://www.geocities.com/~rangermike

We headed out mid morning for Barclay Lake. Road 6024 was clear up to the 3 mile mark but we had to abandon the car at that point and hike the remaining mile to the trail head. This mile of the road had 6 to 12 inches of snow. The trail itself was about 50/50 snow. Some af the bare areas were a little muddy, but overall it was pretty easy going. We hiked the 2 miles in to the lake catching glimpses of Baring Mountain along the way. We ate our lunch at the shoreline of the iced over snow covered lake. For the next hour and a half we were fortunate enough to witness 3 or 4 avalanches from the side of Baring Mountain. It was spectacular!

Getting there: Drive to the Barclay Lk. trailhead just off hwy. 2 in the town of Baring. The trail: Hike past Barclay Lk. and find a trail towards inlet of lake on your left (just past second toliet sign, flagged). The trail is a little bit sketchy to find but not bad if you pay attention to occasional cairns and flagging along the way. Hike to Eagle Lk. and cross the outlet and ascend in Alaska Cedar scrub forest and open talus to the summit ridge. From the ridge follow it to your right and on up to the summit. You'll pass along a couple of minor false summits until you get to the correct one in the distance. There is some snow at the top, but the views were great and worth the struggle. En route you get to cross a fine example of a large alpine ""fen/bog"" in a relatively unadultered state, so be careful when tromping through (try to stay in the forest). By the way this is not the Olympics Mt. Townsend, but the one near Gunn, Merchant, Baring area. Take it easy! See ya on the trail, Pilar.

Eagle Lake/Barclay Lake 8/1/97 Hike the Barclay Lake trail 2.5 miles to a footbridge at far End of Barclay Lake and turn left immediately after crossing a small bridge. The trail is a surveyors trail and somewhat hard to find. It's straight up from here for 1,400 feet but it is worth it when you get to Eagle Lake. The views of Mt. Baring are outstanding. There is a small locked lodge at the south end of Eagle Lake that is interesting to look at and the fish were jumping in the lake. There are plenty of campsites at the south end of the lake. This is a great place to spend the weekend and climb the surrounding peaks and fish. If you want a shorter way in there is a logging road within 2 miles of the lake. The hike is 7 miles out and back from the Barclay Lake trailhead. Dick, Dan, Wally, Bill