I found a cellphone ~5ft off trail just a bit below the yellow cedar.  If it yours, please response with the descriptions of the item and contact info.

What a chilly day for August!!  My friend and I took out Klymit Litewater Dinghys out to Independence Lake for a relaxing pack raft ride : )  The road was in pretty rough shape; the standard large potholes were one thing, but the disconcerting part was how narrow the road was for most of the drive.  If another car was coming the opposite direction, passing options were very limited.  The road from Coal Lake trailhead to the Independence Lake trailhead had branches scratching the car and was at a considerable slant at one point.  High clearance was a boon for sure.  I knew folks had driven to the trailhead fairly recently, so I knew there was room to turn around, otherwise, probably would have walked from Coal Lake.  

As we walked up to Independence Lake, the mist and clouds got thicker and thicker.  By the lake there was a thin mist falling and the temperature had dropped considerably.  Thankfully we both had warm clothes and after driving all the way up there dang it we were pretty set on enjoying our boats anyway!  The boat ride was SO nice!  Even in the swirling mists our mountains and lakes are stunning!  We did not continue on to North Lake. 

We went all the way around the lake, listening the water dripping from the trees, and then were happily ready to return to the car.  

On the drive back, we stopped to admire Coal Lake before heading home.  Great Day!  So blessed by being able to live in this magical area!  

BEWARE! We had a couple of problems on our hike. First and foremost the flies are HORRIBLE! To point that we did not want to hang out at the lake at all. Secondly, winter must have been rough on the road. There are tons of hidden potholes and parts of the road have wash outs. It was also so narrow that it scratched both sides of our truck pretty badly.

However! The lake was beautifully blue and clear and it is a lovely little short hike, great for kiddos or just getting outside! The first little bit of the trail is narrow and overgrown but not too bad, there are a lot of trees/roots to climb over but nothing too bad! The only downside of the lake is there are only two main spots to enjoy the lake and both were crowded. We didn’t make it all the up to north lake so cannot report on that one.

While I have been to Independence Lake a few times on WTA work parties, I have never gone up over the ridge to North Lake.  I took this opportunity to hike over to North Lake to enjoy the very clear weather this week, and see what sites were  visible from the saddle going into North Lake.  This trailhead has been closed off and on over the last couple of years due to commercial logging at lower altitudes using the same forest road.  Thankfully, the forest road is in very good shape for the approximately 4.5 miles up from the Mountain Loop Highway.  The road does narrow significantly over the last 1/2 mile past the Coal Lake trailhead (rest room here).  The brush is starting to extend out into the roadway so you may find branches rubbing along your vehicle.  Overall, the road is good for all vehicles.  There is no restroom at the Independence Lake trailhead.  It is just a wide turnaround area.  

It took me about 1/2 hour to hike the 0.6 miles to the near end of Independence Lake.  It is a rolling trail without any significant elevation gain.  There was only one minor obstruction of a log piece in the trail.  

The hike up to North Lake is just that, a steady climb up switchbacks from 3800' to 5000' at the saddle before descending into North Lake.  The trail is in relatively good condition considering there has been little maintenance over the last couple of years.  Most of the path is up and across rock avalanche runout areas.  The good news is that the open area is now covered in wild flowers.  It is high summer here and there were a whole variety of flowers blooming in any area with a bit of sun.  

There were more logs down across the trail on the way up to North Lake.  Most were easy to get around.  There were no show stoppers on the way up.  There was one short scramble section of about 25 yards (at 4500' elevation).  The solid rock face precluded normal full bench tread construction.  It just takes a little more time and patience.  

I did take lunch at the top of the saddle before the trail went down approximately 800' down into North Lake.  My apologies, I did descend all the way to North Lake.  I reached my time limit after a very leisurely lunch on the boulders at the saddle.  The views here were amazing.  There were clear views of Glacier Peak and Mount Pugh.  You could also still play in snow if you wished on the north slopes of the trail.  

There were only four other people on the trail this day.  Two women passed me toward North Lake as I was leaving, and a father/daughter pair were enjoying a late lunch at Independence Lake.  Consider this a short hike for the family to Independence Lake or a more challenging hike into a private spot on North Lake.

Decided to hike Independence lake with my toddler on the 4th just because 🙂..