Wide open mountain vistas to start then lovely woods until the lake. Nice

Nice easy to moderate trail to do if you’re stuck with hiking near the wildfire smoke. With impacted views and bad air quality, I didn’t want to do anything long or strenuous but the dog and I had to get out. There’s been a lot of beautiful fall colors along the I-90 corridor and so I decided to give Lodge Lake a visit today. Glad I did. This has got to be one of the easiest lakes to get to since the drive to the trailhead itself doesn’t require an adventure over miles of bumpy forest road. Zero issues with parking, plenty of room, but no toilet or trash facilities are located at the trailhead. There’s a bit of fall colors in the open ski slope meadow section that’s quite nice. Along the PCT past Lodge Lake, I could see through the trees sections of open areas with fall colors and could hear pikas meeping. Lodge Lake itself was quiet and very reflective. The small Beaver Lake passed along the way was low. And there were way less mushrooms and late season flowers than this time last year but more fall foliage. The turnoff for Lodge Lake is easy to miss. It’s about 1.8 miles from the trailhead. There’s a brown metal sign for it up on a tree’s trunk.

Arrived around 10am and there was only one other car in the parking area at the time. The trail was a little tricky to follow at the beginning due to the intersecting service vehicle roads, but still easy enough to figure out. We accidentally missed the turn for the lake, but that was definitely our faults - when we turned around to find it, it was very clearly marked. The area next to the lake was pretty muddy from the recent rain, but the rest of the trail was fine, and we were still able to find a decent spot by the lake to eat a snack around 11:30. The air was pretty clear when we started, but got smokier and hazier as we went. We thought we were just hiking into the smoke, but it was definitely rolling in and was thick in the parking lot when we returned. We got back to our car around 1pm, and at that point there were a few other cars there too. Overall, a lovely little weekday morning hike!

Lovely day for a hike!

just a couple notes-

• beautiful red shrubs in the exposed section near trailhead
• the turn from the PCT to the lake (on your right) is easy to miss so keep an eye out!
• huckleberries are done :(
• lots of cool fungus out today
• ample free parking
• trail was very rooty
• no bugs at lake, save dragonflies 

Some fall colors are starting to shine through in the ski/chairlift area near the trailhead. No haze or smoky air today, nice and clear. There's a blowdown about 1.5 miles from the trailhead, which was no problem to duck under, but it's fairly large and splintery and might collapse soon, so move quickly underneath and take care not to bump it. After it collapses, it should be easy enough to step over.