Please note that the camp areas associated with these trails are normally close until June 15th., however, this year they are closed for overnite camping until further notice. The Department of Natural Resources is changing the sanitary facilities from the fly-in porta potties used in the past to permanently installed outhouses. We hope to have the outhouses installed during the first three weeks of July. The camp areas closed are: Cutthroat Lakes, Beaver Plant, Upper and Lower Ashland Lakes, Twin Falls, and Boulder Lake. For more information contact Kathy Gunther, Natural Areas Steward, at 360-856-3500. Thank You. Stan Kurowski, Special Lands Coordinator, DNR, Northwest Region

This 8 mile 2100 ft elevation gain hike is within an hour's drive of Seattle. It's almost entirely deserted and offers dramatic views of snow-daubed peaks, a lovely alpine meadow and, at the top, not too suprisingly, Boulder Lake. At present time the lake is almost completely snow-covered, but looks as if it would be beautiful if it could be better seen. Currently the trail is completely snow-free up to about the 3 mile mark. At this point, snow begins in patches. About 1/4 mile from the lake the snow cover is complete but the trail to the lake is not hard to find. We had very little difficulty hiking this trail although we used ski poles and wished we had brought some gaiters too. It may get worse before it gets better, though, as postholing will probably become a problem near the top as the snow pack melts. Currently there are some mild bugs, but nothing too annoying (and this from a person who is highly prone to bug insanity). There were two trees blown down across the trail but they were both easily handled. There is also a large break-your-leg sort of hole in the trail part way up the valley, but you wouldn't unless you were looking at the view instead of where you were stepping. Triliums and some lovely yellow and blue flowers I don't know the names of were in full force. All in all we had an extremely enjoyable hike in a beautiful and apparently little hiked area. A few final tips: You gain access to this hike by means of a road labeled ""Sultan Recreational Basin"" (or something like that) just after Sultan when heading east on route 2. The sign is almost impossible to see from this direction, so you will need to turn around after you realize you have missed it (when you get to Startup) and pick it up on your way back. A great advantage of the location of this hike, by the way, is the proximity to the fantastic Sultan bakery. You would be a fool not to stop in there on your way in to pick up a bear claw. The disadvantage of the location appears to be that people like to use various points along the access road for semi-automatic weapon firing. Ah wilderness...

First half of trail is rocky and difficult, second half is well-graded through beautiful hemlock forest. Five blow-downs, four of which are easy to cross, one is a little tricky. Trail and lake are melted out. Mosquitos are ravenous.

The trail was clogged with roots and rock's and we had to really pay attention to the trail. Things were fairly dried out and we only discovered 2 small patches of snow just before the lake. We were the only two people there until the morning of 8-2-99 when day hiker's were coming up. The lake and views were really nice, BUT !! the Bugs were really, really bad. We used insect repellent to no avail. The flies and mesquito's were in our mouthes, ear's, noses and eye's.

A lovely sunny Sunday but few people, maybe because of the rough road. Trail in good condition, a few trees across trail in last mile, but none a problem. Snow on trail for last ~ 1/2 mile but route finding was easy. The lake is ~ 75% snow-covered. At least two of the campsites (each with a firering and a little bench) are snow-free. The port-a-potty has been delivered (presumably by helicopter) but is precariously perched on a bush and is not yet open for business. Will there be a grand opening'