Noah and I hiked this today, he met me at Glacier Peak Resort where I was staying and we drove the short distance separately due to covid.

Trail to the ridge top leaves Monogram Lake Trail at the high point, see kidz won't hike's Report from today for detailed info, we ran into him on the ridge.  I also wrote a Report for here a few days ago, which is why he was here today.

Not to be missed!

As CP stated in his report last week, this is a excellent hike, and if you have a chance it is worth the trip. Views are quite sweet, along with the fall foliage. I also met CP at the high point of Teebone Ridge. There is actually a monument on top of this peak with the name DEVIL on it.

I got started at 8:30 am at the Lookout Mountain Lookout/Monogram Lake trailhead. Trail starts out steep and continues this way all the way up, but with the numerous switchbacks it is not that bad.

In about 2.8 miles and after about 0.25 mile past the creek crossing  take a right on the Monogram Lake trail. At around 5250 ft where the trail starts to go downhill to the lake, there is a faint trail to the left that heads up the knife edge ridge. If you start to go down hill and see the lake you have gone too far.

Trail heads straight up. There is some scrambling involved and there is also some pink flagging to help where the trail goes in and out of some alpine trees. Poles helped on the way down as this part is pretty steep and a fall would not be good.

Once you get up on the shoulder of the ridge the views really open up. There is a high point on the west end of the ridge that had some very nice views. I was thinking of just stopping here, but when I saw a pair of hikers up on the higher east end, I decided to check it out.

To get over there I dropped down and traversed over large car/bus sized boulders before heading straight up and walking the ridge. The views were really starting to get great. To the north of Teebone Ridge with all the jagged rocks was almost like The Enchantments or Thunder Mountain Lakes.

Once I got to the east end of the ridge, I boulder hopped up to a high point a little over 6800 ft. The monument with the name DEVIL was surprising as it was not Little Devil Peak. Views from here were superb. Lots of peaks and glaciers. You could also see a climber on the summit of I think Little Devil Peak.

As I was descending this unnamed peak, I ran into CP coming up from an apparent attempt to get over to Little Devil Peak. We chatted for a bit and I headed back down.

Definitely recommend this hike. Once you get out in the open around 5200 ft the hike is awesome with the views and fun with some route finding and some pretty easy class 2 scrambling.

Got back to the trailhead at 4:45 pm. 12.5 miles 6095 ft elevation gain

Put this one at the top of your list of hikes to do when the smoke clears.  Often written off because of the big elevation gain, trail is so good you'll hardly notice.

Cascade River Road Mile 7, hike Lookout Mountain trail almost 3 miles to signed R on trail to Monogram Lake.  Where trail starts to drop to the Lake, look for path up the ridge.  Climbs to the flat crest and traverses toward Little Devil Peak.

Smoky conditions obscured the 360 degree views, every bit as good as Cascade Pass, Maple Pass, Hidden Lake Lookout.  Massive glacier with lake at it's foot below the end of the ridge, may be accessible.

When visibility is better I will try to get across to Little Devil Peak.  Plenty of water, last is where trail enters meadow.  About 8 hours total, 10 miles, 6000+/-.

Tried to backpack Thornton Lakes, but it was full so the ranger sent us to this one. We didn't really understand what we were signing up for to be fair. This hike is brutal pretty much start to finish. Steep switchbacks at the beginning and then once you get to the junction and head to the lake it's less switchbacks and more straight up hill. There were 3 super large trees total knocked over the trail. Two of them it is possible to work your way around them, but one the only option is crawling under it. There is one portion of marshy vegetation; the trail through there has been recently cleared out, but at that point biting flies started to appear and follow us. They didn't really let up the remainder of the hike and any time you stop moving they swarm. The lake was just as bad. We ended up deciding to just make it a day hike and go back to the car because the bugs would have just made us miserable.

We don't know how the trail is measured, but both us and another pair of backpackers independent of us had the distance up to the lake at almost 6 miles, not 4.9 and it feels like it, but it is possible the extreme elevation change could be responsible and GPS watches aren't always accurate in the woods.

The pros of the hike for us were seeing a juvenile Saw-whet Owl that just stared at us from a tree right above the trail and let us walk right by and take pictures without moving. Also the lake is definitely beautiful and the water is nice and cold. It did provide temporary relief from the bugs after jumping in. The views of all the surrounding mountains as well, especially Baker, were amazing.

Just a quick note, since trail conditions seem to have improved since the last report? There is a low elevation brushy section that has been very freshly cleared out - it's like a highway now (saw the weed whacker off to the side of the trail just below it). Although I did get stung by something on the way down in this section. But anyway, the trail is in great shape now.

Bugs were bad in the afternoon in spots. Scared a bear right where the trail crosses the ridge above the lake.