We parked a little short of the main parking lot thinking we were "there." Main parking lot is large and has a vault toilet. Trail is relatively flat for the first 2.25 miles and then climbs steadily. Not an easy hike but there are lots of switchbacks! The lake is beautiful. We saw several different types of mushrooms along the trail along with the start of fall color - mostly maples. Good road all the way to the trailhead so 2WD is fine. NW Forest Pass or America the Beautiful pass needed for parking.

My bride and I started this 3-day backpacking trip from the Trapper Creek Trailhead by trail #192 then walked up Forestry Road #5401, crossed Trapper Creek, then took #133 up the ridge. The weather was in the 50s-70s, perfectly clear skies and not a single puff of wind. I can count the number of mosquitoes we saw on one hand, it was wonderful! There were several trees and large limbs down on the trail but all were safely passable. It looked like the last 400-600ft of elevation before reaching the lake had seen recent maintenance since the last rainstorm. No snow visible anywhere. The lake was crystal clear, full of crawdads, and had the occasional fish jumping. We found ripe and sweet blueberries in abundance on the south rim of the lake. We enjoyed circumnavigating the lake on our second day and ended the third with a great descent. It took us about 6 hours to hike in and 5 hours to hike out. We had the trail to ourselves both on the way in and the way out. There was one other backpacking overnighter on the other side of the lake and a few dayhikers showed up on the full day. Otherwise, it was dead calm, super quiet, incredibly peaceful, and absolutely gorgeous! All in all, it was certainly a strenuous hike with lots of switchbacks that required plenty of breaks. Trekking poles were a huge help. According to my hand drawn onX Backcountry route of the hike in, it was about 4¾ miles, 3,000ft of elevation gained, and 400ft of elevation loss. 

Great hike, a challenging one, with quite a lot of climbing and switchbacks. Recommended to be in decent shape for this one. Lovely lake at the summit, some small patches of snow around up there. Bugs not bad at all, trail mostly good with a few giant blowdowns that could be negotiated with some planning. The creek near the bottom of the hike was best crossed in water shoes with poles — very very slippery rocks. Nice and refreshing though. Gorgeous view of Hood around the east edge of the ridgeline. Beautiful lilies (glacier?) near the top too. My watch clocked the roundtrip more like 10.5 miles.

Road to trail mostly paved except that last half mile which was generally fine for all vehicles. Broken auto glass at TH. 

Soda Peaks Lake via the Trapper Creek trailhead: a great hike on a sunny late spring day, with lots of blooming wildflowers (mostly white-blossomed, especially Columbia Windflower, Bunchberry, Queen’s Cup, Western Starflower, Candy Flower, Inside-out Flower, Sitka Valerian, and Thimbleberry), a few birds (olive-sided flycatcher on the trail, water ouzel at the creek near the Trail #192 / Trail #133 junction, varied thrush at the lake), and conifers emitting their hot-day terpene fragrance. 

Difficulties: The creek on Trail #192 just before the junction with Trail #133 was running too fast and deep for rock-hopping, so I scooted on a log going up (not advisable) and waded across on the return. A half-dozen trees on Trail #133 were too large to step over and required climbing over, sliding under, or pushing through branches. Nearing the lake, the trail has here and there sloughed downhill and sometimes is just a steep rocky creek bed. Only a few patches of snow on the trail near the lake, not an issue.

No cars at the trailhead upon 9:00 a.m. arrival, no one on the trail up or down, no one at the lake. The lake was rimmed with snow, bright, and clear: idyllic.

I hiked up from Government Mineral Springs below, the big hill, using the 192 trail to start, as described in the WTA description. The upper shorter trail still has snow on it and the road is not quite melted out that far. I only ran into snow a few hundred yards before the lake, and there were some logs in the last half mile. Mosquitoes are just starting to come out.