A full report is on my blog: http://hammer-rocknroll-money.blogspot.com/2008/08/foolish-hiking-plans.html Here is a synopsis of trail conditions Trail Conditions: Ingalls Lake - clear, good condition Jack Creek - some minor windfall, lost trail in swampy meadows Snowall/Cradle - brushy areas Meadow Creek - extremely brushy in spots, some windfall, lost trail in swamp meadows French Creek - windfall, relatively good tread Paddy-Go-Easy Pass - clear, relatively good condition South Scatter Creek - extremely brushy in meadows, no tread in many areas, significant avalanche and windfall debris County Line - very thin trail with no tread in meadows, windfall, disapears in alpine areas Lake Ann / Esmeralda Basin - clear, good condition, water on some portions of trail

Especially the last section of trail up to Lower Klonqua from French Creek has quite a few blowdowns, some of them quite big. There's also a couple sections where the brush is overgrown but since it was dry on the way in, that was fine. We actually had some light rain on way out a few days later so the full rain suit sure came in handy. The rest of the trail is in excellent condition. My older version of ""100 Hikes"" for the ALW says that the lower lake was once dammed. Well, it still is. Once a year a helicopter from some Irrigation District lands on the helipad a the lake's outlet and 5 folks jump out, 4 of them to turn an ancient valve to drain the lake even further. We happened to be there just the once a year they happen to fly in. Bizarre. Apparently, before ALW existed, both the Klonaqua lakes were privately owned as reservoirs for orchards and is under some special leasing agreement with the government to maintain the dam and water usage there. Hence, the previous report's mentioning of the lake being ""damage goods"". Someone also apparently drilled a hole all the way under the lower lake to the upper lake to facilitate faster draining of the upper lake. It's hard to consider it wilderness in my book at that point but I'd hate to see what the place might look like had the ALW never come into existance. If I ever visit here again I might try to find out exactly where this helicopter comes from to time my trip apart from theirs. Aside from the above, it's a lovely lake. The water level was quite down, maybe 10 feet or more. There's some nice fat fish to be found there, if you're willing to wait for them as they were a bit slow. After some poking around, we found a trail up along the SW side of the lake to Bob Lake. After some searching around, we finally found another trail that led up to the Upper K lake. It was windy and cold so we didn't stay long. Also there were finally more than a couple blueberries and huckleberries to be found near the upper lake. Of course we found those AFTER we'd eaten the blueberry-less pancakes! We hadn't seen many the entire trip and my guess is that the whole area over there has been too dry and hot. Many of the plants looked scorched. The dryness also helped with the bugs...there were a few skeeters but nothing to bark about. My headnet never left my pack.

Loop trail thru Alpine Lakes wilderness. All trails clear except up French Creek to Paddy GO Easy Pass. Approx 12 trees across the trail. Not too difficult for hikers, but I dont know that horse or stock could get past a few of them. Most of the trees are smaller but a few are larger. Oh, some one stole my wiper blades from my car at stevens pass while I was hiking!! The mosquitos were bad a some of the lower lake elevations, but no big deal at most places especially at the upper elevations. Hardly any views with the low cloud coverage. Nights were not too cool, but the mist does get you wet. Enjoy

Not to many cars at the Icicle Creek trail head. Hiked about 3.5 miles in on Icicle Creek Trail #1572 but ran into mom and baby black bear. So turned around, picked up French Ridge Trail #1564 easy going up at this point, no water once you get off the Icicle Creek Trail, is some when you make your way down to French Creek Trail. Good views on the way up, best views from the top. Hard trail going down the back side, toward the French Creek Trail, steep,overgrown and very exposed. Once on the French Creek Trail thought I had it made for the easy walk out but ran into more overgrowth, this was the worst I have ever seen could not even see the trail, over my head. Ran into another black bear this one just kept on going so I was able to pass after about five minutes. Nice quiet area, I would go again!

We hiked up French Creek trail which was in good condition but snow covered before you reach the pass. Scrambled northwest along the ridge (off trail) and eventually came down the Robin Lakes Trail which was hard to find and to follow due to snow. Lakes are still frozen except for the lowest lake which was totally melted but the outlet was high making an interesting crossing. The Robin Lakes trail itself was not too bad but became obscured due to snow in the forest. Had a hard time finding Deception Pass trail due to snow in the forest and a big stream that was not on the green trails map. Encountered people looking for the ""up"" trail. The Deception Pass trail was in bad condition with a lot of large fallen trees across the trail even below the snow accumulation.