We started our Sunday through Tuesday trip with about 20 cars in the parking lot and several stocked toilet options at the trailhead. As we hiked in, we passed 12 Boulder Lake backpackers on their way out! We ended up having the entire lake to ourselves Sunday through late afternoon Monday, when a couple arrived to stay one night.

There are about 8 tent pads, and few to no good camping options if those are full. Water is not hard to access via the lake shore or the outlet. Every tent pad has a fire grate, though not sure where folks are finding wood to burn. Pollen was thick on the lake. Not great for swimming but wading was lovely. 

We explored the lakeshore to the left of the outlet but did not make it far in the thick brush. To escape the relentlessly hot sun, we took refuge at one of the upper campsites. And when that site became exposed to the afternoon sun, we returned to find our camp near the outlet in shade once again. 

The bugs were thick. Small flies throughout the day. The skeets showed up before sunrise, went away during the hottest part of the day, then returned until after sunset. They must have just hatched. We sprayed ourselves with "Off' every hour or so to keep them at bay.

Despite the heat and bugs and limited options for exploring, this is a beautiful lake, worth the price of admission. Much of the trail is in shade. The woods are beautiful. Wildflowers are blooming. The views are lovely.

If I were to go back, I'd go late fall, after the bugs and heat (and summer crowds) have passed and the heather and blueberry bushes are in color. Sounds like WTA is planning more work parties in the near future. Hopefully, adding a pit toilet is part of the agenda. With so many sites spread over a relatively small area, privacy is hard to come by. When nature called, we hiked several hundred feet back down the trail to find enough soft soil off the beaten track suitable to dig a cat hole. 

No sign of bears or other mammals though we brought a bear barrel just in case. We heard owls both nights and howling briefly the first night. Lots of birds signing.

I picked up one small piece of garbage on the trail, a part of a bar wrapper probably dropped by mistake. So good to see this beautiful destination free of trash, TP, and orange peels. Hopefully, it will stay that way.

Trail is in great shape and the new gravel campsites were so nice! We did not see a pit toilet up there, hopefully it’s in the works as they’re still doing a bunch of work up there.

We got up to the lake around 1 hoping to spend the afternoon swimming. The lake had an incredibly thick layer of pollen so we did not get in… did find a spot relatively clear enough for the dogs though. We had our first pick of the campsites but it seemed to fill up through the late afternoon.

Updating the bugs were on the threshold of just annoying and unbearable. Happy to have had a bug net at the campsite but if you’re moving around they weren’t bad.

Thanks to trip reporter Bill Martin for giving the "all clear", I finally headed up to Boulder Lake.  Having done Greider a few times I was intrigued by the next one along the old converted road.

• Road to TH is in great shape; any car can handle it.
• The road walk is long and boring but in good shape.  3 new bridges fully completed to the Greider TH.  Beyond that, there are 2 more that are nearly done but not open yet.  Spiderwebs of caution tape cover each end.  But the creeks are small and it's pretty easy to go down/up the ravines these bridges cross.  DNR actively working to finish these.
• Big camp spot was located at the old Boulder TH.  We later encountered the campers, who were on a WTA campout trail work party.  Thanks to them; doing some great work to improve this trail now that it's accessible again.
• Lots of benching has been done, along with some new rock stairs.  But probably the most important thing is that the whole trail has been brushed out in the last year or so.  Apparently it used to be really bad, according to a couple we met that had been up here a couple years ago.
• Lake is beautiful, with lots of places to sit on the low-bank area.  Many campsites, perhaps 5 or so?  New gravel tent pads have been built recently at the sites.  And they have metal fire rings.
• To get to the sites and really anywhere nice to sit, you have to cross the old wooden bridge over Boulder Creek.  It's fine for now, but is getting rotten in places and will need replacement in some years.
• Lots of toads and frogs out and about.
• We clocked about 14 miles and 8 of that was on the converted road.
• On a beautiful Sunday we met 1 other group on the Boulder Lake trail, along with the WTA volunteers.

Lots of work being done and a few new bridges that should be completed within a week according to the work crew I spoke with.

The trail was in great condition. I was surprised that it wasn't worse after being closed for so long. The work crews did a great job. There's still a few places needing attention but not many. We had the trail to ourselves almost all day too. Lol