What a day of hiking! Wouldn't recommend doing this all in one day like I did. If you do, make sure to have lots of food, and water filtration. Snow Lake: Easy beautiful hike. Climbs decently, and then drops into the basin. Plenty of sun exposure, so make sure you have sunscreen! Lots of pikas, I saw one scurrying across the trail carrying a fern 3 times it size. Gem Lake: Much smaller Lake, but the scenery surrounding it and leading up to it is much more spectacular. A few small tarns and meadows along the steady climb. Wright Mountain: continue on the east side of the lake, and you'll see a defined but unmarked trail cutting straight up. Follow that, and keep to the left when it levels off. This is the Wright Mountain trail. Everyone says it's a "scramble", but I would say it's a steep hike where you use your hands once or twice. Keep hiking until you see the cairns, then head straight up the talus to the top. This is the best view of the day (see main photo). Lower Wildcat Lake: continue along Gem Lake, until you reach a junction, with a sign saying "wildcat lakes" pointing to the right. The trail drops straight down for a long time. This section of the hike is incredible! There are many tarns, meadows, creeks, and talus slopes along the way. You'll reach a super marshy little tarn; continue to the right and you'll be at Lower Wildcat Lake. Continue left ( across the creek) onto the tiny trail. Upper Wildcat Lake: This part is short, but very steep. There are some delicious Mtn. Blueberries on this portion. The trail can be tricky and easy to lose. It's especially easy to lose at the rock field; no worries though! Follow the loud creek upwards (hopping along rocks and logs -- you won't get wet at all) and you'll be there. I lost the trail entirely on the way down, but I looked over and saw Lower Wildcat, bushwhacked to it, and walked along the shore back to the trail. The trip back was brutal; it was getting hot and the climb back up to Gem is quite steep. Overall, great hiking! Just shy of a 20 mile day. I would recommend a GPS, map, or great routefinding skills (unlike me). Get to the trailhead before 9, to beat the massive crowds (even on a Monday!). This would also be better to have a buddy with you, especially if you do Upper Wildcat.

I'll mainly comment on the trail from Gem Lake to the Wildcat Lakes. The trail was easy enough to follow throughout. Lower Wildcat Lake had a tough act to follow after beautiful and serene Gem Lake and unfortunately not much can be said about it. Stopped to watch someone fish for a minute but was eager to push on through to Upper Wildcat Lake. But there is a campsite at LWC for anyone interested. The final portion to Upper Wildcat Lake is very overgrown, with a couple trees to climb over or under, and some tricky crossings to stay on the trail. But overall, certainly a distinguished trail. As a whole, this is one of those up and down trails; up and down to Snow, then up to Gem, then lots of down to the Wildcat Lakes. It never gets boring, that's for sure! There are lots of great views, easy access to water and campsites, and lots of mosquitos.

The parking lot was really crowded when I arrived at 9:10am but the parking lot is huge and there was no problem finding parking. I didn't take long to get ready and quickly hit the trail. This was my first time to Snow Lake when there was no snow (I usually visit this lake in the spring) and it was my first time to Gem Lake and Lower Wildcat Lake. There were not really any challenges along the trail all the way to Gem Lake. It's pretty well marked and nothing is growing over it and no difficult water crossings. The crossing over the Snow Lake inlet was an easy crossing on some large rocks and the crossing over the Snow Lake outlet is an easy walk over a tree turned into a bridge. I passed a few groups on the way to Snow Lake and was passed by a couple other solo hikers. I didn't stop at Snow Lake at all other than to take a few photos along the way. A group of kids were coming down from Gem Lake shortly before I arrived. There were only three people at Gem Lake when I got there (one couple and a solo hiker). Gem Lake is beautiful and worth the extra mileage. I stopped to eat at Gem Lake and decided it was too early to head back so I continued to Lower Wildcat Lake. The trail to Lower Wildcat lake from Gem Lake is mostly downhill with some steep downhill switchbacks along the way (which are a joy to climb back up) but veers off from what was shown on my map. The trail gets to a point where the lake is visible and fairly close but rather than going straight to the shore there (as was shown on my map) it turns left away from the lake and proceeds clockwise around the lake. It does eventually come back to the lake on the other side. Lower Wildcat Lake it not very exciting and probably not worth the trip if you're going for view but it was a peaceful hike and I didn't see a single person between it and Gem Lake either direction. It also makes for a much better workout, both in distance and in elevation gain. I stopped a bit more on the return trip for photos but otherwise it was uneventful and I made it back to the parking lot around 6:00pm, right when it was starting to get dark. Travel times (which include photography stops) Trailhead to Snow Lake overlook - 1 hour 5 minutes Snow Lake overlook to Snow Lake inlet - 16 minutes Snow Lake inlet to Snow Lake outlet - 24 minutes Snow Lake outlet to Gem Lake - 1 hour Gem Lake to Lower Wildcat Lake - 1 hour 5 minutes Lower Wildcat Lake to Trailhead - 4 hours 13 minutes

Woke up not feeling great but really wanted some time on the trail so I headed to the pass figuring it wouldn't be much driving wasted if I had to turn back. Only to find that somehow feeling bad didn't impact my legs or lungs, no problem getting a long day in. Hiked out to Upper Wildcat, then went up Wright Mountain on the return. Let's see, the trail from Lower WC to Upper is faint but it's kindof a no-brainer, if you roughly parallel the creek you'll get there. One nice campspot right at the lake, looked to me like you'd be in deep brush/steep terrain if you tried to go around the lake but I didn't try it. All things considered I'm glad I checked it out but I wouldn't prioritize returning. Wright Mountain, on the other hand, is well worth it, a fun trail and the views can't be beat. I'll definitely do that one again and again. And Gem Lake at this time of year couldn't be prettier with the shiny blue of the lake and the red foliage around.

This is my third time hiking at Green Mountain. If you are looking for a local, easy hike, this is where you should go. Green Mountain is full of beauty and drowns out any traffic or suburban noise in the nearby areas. If you planning to hike with children, I would recommend the north parking lot and hiking from there due to the southern side of the mountain starting off at a decent grade. While hiking, I encountered bikers and ATV's. Most of the paths are made for most modes of travel and I have had no problem sharing the paths with the previously mentioned people. Happy trails.