What may be the last day in 2025 of blue skies and warm temperatures motivated me to check off this bucket list hike.  Fortunately, the trail and the trailhead access is unaffected by the current government shutdown.

The first thing to know is that the road to the trailhead (Forest Service road 1540) is NOT marked, either by the 1540 identifier or by signage indicating it is the way to the Hidden Lake trailhead.  Just be aware that it is a gravel road angling off to the left as you drive on Cascade River Road, a little over a mile past the Marble Creek Campground.

Cascade River Road is paved and in excellent condition.  However, as others have pointed out, the 4½ mile road to the trailhead is deeply rutted and potholed, and it will be slow going.  The good news is that the worst part of it seems to be the first mile.  I'm not saying the rest of it is a picnic, but if you can make it the first mile, you'll make it the rest of the way.  It will, however, be nearly impossible for a low-clearance vehicle.  I'd only attempt it in an SUV, pickup truck, or Jeep.

I arrived at the trailhead at about 10:15 AM.  There were perhaps a dozen vehicles, and the "official" parking spots were all taken.  However, there was plenty of additional parking . . . you can parallel park opposite the "official parking", and there are opportunities to park on the road.

The trail is generally in good condition.  But, be aware the lower portion (in the forest) is quite rooty and rocky in spots . . .and the higher elevations are very rocky.  Only the middle portion . . . the switchbacks up the valley . . . offer consistently soft tread.  One note is that almost exactly at the 2.00 mile mark, there's a point where the trail forks and it is unclear which route to take.  It turns out that the right fork is a switchback cut (though this is not apparent at the point of the fork), so be a good citizen and take the left.  There are a few down trees covering the trail but none that present any significant difficulty.

The last mile, and especially the last half mile, are the most difficult.  The trail loses definition, and you'll be scrambling up large boulders.  For route finding, look for cairns, footprints, and a white pole marking "NPS Boundary".  I might suggest that there is an opportunity for a WTA work party to establish some more definitive route markers.

On this early October Wednesday, I shared the summit with about a dozen other hikers.  The lookout tower was unlocked and hikers enjoyed having a look.  The tower is in good condition and users seem to be doing a job keeping it neat and tidy.

There was one group at the summit that was a bit annoyingly loud.  I'd like to suggest that hiking groups keep their conversation volume low, especially atop summits when most people are looking to enjoy the fabulous environs with a reasonable degree of quiet solitude.

On the descent, there are a few places where the trail routing is a bit ambiguous, but in all these cases, you'll either realize it's a dead end within 10-20 yards, or the various options will converge within a similar distance.

When I returned to the trailhead at 3:47 PM, I counted 17 vehicles parked.

My hiking data (I'm a male in my mid-50s in reasonably good shape but not an ex-Olympiad or Ironman participant; I hiked solo).

Started hike:  10:17 AM

Reached the lookout:  1:07 PM (so elapsed time up was 2 hours 50 minutes)

Departed the lookout:  1:32 PM

Reached trailhead:  3:47 PM (so elapsed time down was 2 hours 15 minutes)

My Garmin fitness watch recorded 24784 steps, 2204 calories burned (1764 active calories plus 440 resting calories).

My water consumption was about 2 liters.

If anyone found a pair of black ray-ban sun glasses on Oct. 6th, and wishes to return them, please comment on this.

Trail was popular on a perfect Sunday. No snow yet. Parts of trail were slippery. Some overgrowth in the post-old growth valley jaunt but otherwise nothing remarkable. For my money this is the best day hike in the area.

Beautiful fall day for an epic hike. We arrived around 9 am, three other cars in the parking lot. The 4.5 mile road is tough, we made it over the giant potholes, 3 tricky areas, going slow in a Subaru. No toilets at trailhead. Hike starts in the woods with elevation gain right off the bat. Pop out of the forests for more uphill trekking. The level section filled with ripe blueberries was a most welcome break from the climb with views to Baker and closer mountains covered in glaciers. Break time was over too quickly and back to the climb. Route finding was not too difficult although we got off track a couple of times. Most social trails loop back to the main trail. Look for the rocks lined up in parallel for the final stretch to Hidden Lake. 
Hidden Lake is gorgeous, surrounded by mountains covered in ice. This outstanding view location could make for a fine turn around spot.
We continued up to the lookout, steep trail with some scrambling needed to reach the top. Got a chance to pop into the fire lookout, neat history and  fabulous views all around.  
To our delight, a group of white tailed ptarmigans were seen on the lower part of the scramble. They were mid molt turning from granite camouflage into winter white.
On our way back down we encountered a couple more hikers coming up and made a new friend who hiked down with us and infused some positive energy into our tiring trio. 
Took us about 7 hours with several rest, snack and blueberry breaks. 
Great day to be in the mountains!

This hike nearly killed me. In the end, I did 15.5 miles and 5500 elevation. In the end, I would absolutely not do this again. 

Let me start at the beginning. 

The directions are not helpful. The sign that is said to mark the road is gone. The road itself was one of the worst we've taken. Many cars had given up and were just abandoned on the side of the path. At the trail head, someone was leaving notes on all the cars saying the car had hit him and he was going to call the police and the feds and report them. It was a huge insurance scam and totally insane. I hope no one fell for it. 

The trail itself starts off in the forest. Lots of shade. We saw some frogs! At the start of mile 2, you're exposed. It will be bright sun for the rest of the hike. There were a couple of stream crossings, but nothing worth noting. It was dry, it was dusty, it was steep. There were millions of bugs everywhere. I didn't find it very enjoyable. Switch back upon switch back. The people a mile ahead were still visible, and because of physics, the sound from their conversations carried all the way down the mountain. Please don't do that. Don't be the super loud ones on hikes. 

At mile three, the trail changes again. For the next mile, it is relatively flat and lovely. For me, this was the only enjoyable part of the hike. Beautiful views, nice terrain, and some flowers. I will note that in this area, people forgot about hiking manners. Lots and lots of people who had decided to sit down and take a break in the absolute middle of the trail. It was nearly impossible to get by two groups. Taking a break is awesome! Please be aware of other hikers, though. 

Mile four is when things got bad. It is back to a steady incline and dust. You are doing some light scrambles in places, but the worst part is that this is where the trail disappears. I want to start by saying this was one of the busiest hikes I did this year. Well over 100 people, which was unexpected considering I selected a time I knew would be less busy, and it was hard to get to. Three dogs as well. Back to the hike. With all of those hikers, you would think the trail would have been easy to follow. That simply wasn't the case. 

There were people with All Trails trying to locate the path. People with printed copies of the WTA who were lost. There were folks climbing higher to see if they could see anything. There were so many cairns that led to false trails. One person took out a drone and flew it up to try to get the path back. One team had walkie-talkies and was trying to establish where the heck to go. There was zero trail. To get to the lookout, you were free climbing and yes, it was terrifying. I absolutely hate scrambles and this was the worst one I had done. People at the top were laughing about how bad it had been. The lookout was occupied by two lovely women and their dog who said it had been empty when they arrived at 1. 

On the other side, the lake, was just as bad. We did not run into a single group that made it to the lake. There were simply no trails. 

I love a good hike but this was awful. For their being so many hikers, I am surprised by how hard the route finding was. Lots of injuries. Lots of people giving up. I would not do this again. 

Last time I was here, July 21st 2019, I rolled my ankle BAD about 0.7 miles from the trailhead on the way down. I tore my ATFL completely and grade 1'd my CFL and PTFL. Ouch... I had to tape up my ankle with some leukotape and get myself out somehow with my trekking poles. After doing the first 0.7 miles today and seeing how rough the trail was, I am amazed I was able to do it. When I saw a doctor, I learned that, fortunately, the ATFL is the one ligament in the body that heals on its own and doesn't need surgery. I was in a boot/crutches for 3 months. My leg went from rigatoni to angel hair. But by the following spring I was back hiking. To this day, I've probably lost about 5% range of motion and strength in this ankle. I've never gotten back here since, always looking for new hikes. I wanted to come back here and "defeat" this hike since summer 2020, but I think in the back of my mind, I was scared of it, so I've put it off. 

The road in is rougher than I remember it. I really recommend high clearance. There is one washout section that is actually one of the trickier sections of a road into a hike that I've driven in a long time. 14 cars in the lot at 11 am. Pretty much full. All SUVs or trucks.

There is no toilet at the trailhead. The coffee was hitting so I climbed up the slope above the lot to dig a cathole. When I got back to the car, I found my phone was missing from my pocket! After looking for 15 minutes I was able to find it. Phew. This nemesis hike is off to a ominous start.

Fortunately the hike was pretty chill. I really like this hike because you get up and out of the forest so fast. In less than 1 mile and you're in the avalanche chute where you quickly climb to the subalpine then on to the alpine. I found the exact rock I destroyed my ankle on right below the bridge with the stair and the turn on it. It's smaller that I remember haha. I guess its the innocuous ones that are the most dangerous; you don't see them coming. 

Once you almost reach the top of the col, and from then on to the col and to the lookout, there are tons and tons of social trails and choose your own adventure. This is definitely for better or for worse since the easiest way up, with the least boulder hopping baiting 127 hours, is the designated trail. I had to double back a number of times on both the way up and way down to find the best trail, sometimes getting "cliffed up" buy car sized talus. The view from the lookout is spectacular with great views of Glacier and Baker and the whole North Cascades National Park. I highly recommend going from the col all the way up to the lookout if you can handle a few scrambly moves to get through the talus at the top!

Feels good to finally have this one in the bag. 

Happy Trails!