Found a salmon-pink shoe above Spectacle and left it at TH if owner happens to see this & can get back there for it (see last pic).  And in case fun lady who gave me the note on the Dino car- I can't find the Run Team sticker anymore, believe it was from Etsy, but I did find shirts.  You don't have to be faster than the raptors, just faster than the slowest park visitor. :) And in case interested, the Beware Botanists Bearing Tea is my design and I have stickers, shirts, jackets, etc and more plant, dino, & ecology nerdy things, plus articles about local ecology stuff- NaturalCoalescence.com  Cheers to my fellow hikers!

Currently this hike has the perfect combo of fall foliage on the blueberries &  some vine maples plus some great ripe blueberries still on certain patches. Some pruning & some squash but many are worth a pause to pluck if your trail name is Blooberry.  Only encountered a handful of other hikers from Sat-Mond, maybe thanks to season/Hwy 18 construction which was brutal on Auburn traffic (sorry folks).

Trail has a few steep slick rock spots and 1 log to swing over between Mineral Creek TH (reasonable size lot, no signs or toilet) and Spectacle.  A few unmarked camp spots before the 1 shown on Gaia map about a mile before Park Lakes which is basically a widened spot of the trail.  Park has several camp spots, very open and is the main blueberry spot.  Bears must have left them for campers.  

It's a neat climb down to Spectacle after the small in-between lakes and there's even a camp spot among a rocky ridge but small cave there makes me think good cougar home, so not as tempting maybe. No signs of bear or big cats, but lots of chipmunks and a few Pica (love!) around though.  Spectacle is a super cool lake with a finger divided off by the thin peninsula you camp on.  About 8 or more camp sites fairly isolated from each other gives nice feel.  Pit toilet up in boulder field was quite full, fyi but usable if ya need it. Camp sites are basically on rock, so ya may need large rocks to keep a stake in the thin soil layer.  Sun sets over mountains & rises a bit more open area over the lake finger. 

There was frost in the morning but oddly no breeze for both evenings I was in area.  Wild fire smoke to east was thick enough to not want to stay out too long the last day.  Hope that gets contained soon with fall rains. 

Earlier trip reports did a great job of describing conditions. Even with recent rain, trail was in great shape with little to no mud. Road in amazing condition. I was the only car in the parking lot in Friday at around noon. 5-6 when I can back the next morning. Actually had Spectacle to myself for a couple of hours. Even later, there was only one other group at the lake overnight and I hardly knew they were there.

I chose the Mineral Creek approach because I had already been by Lemah meadows earlier this year and I really want to walk through Park Lakes Basin. I remembered the area when I did section J several years ago, and it didn't disappoint. Beautiful area, for sure. I'm surprised I didn't see any bears with the relatively open area and all of the blueberries. The extra elevation was not nothing, but worth it.

My primary reason for posting is to address the apparent discrepancy between the trail length data and the actual trail length, especially via mineral creek. My research showed it was only 7.5 miles one way. In reality I think the length is more like 8.3 miles. Even so, that is not where near the 26 miles roundtrip in the description. maybe they meant from I-90 along the PCT? Anyway, the approach via Pete Lake is probably easier, even though longer. I think the views are better from the south via Mineral Creek.

Hiked to Spectacle lake from mineral creek TH

The mineral creek trail is in good condition, all brush was recently trimmed. PCT is just the usual cruising.

The FS Road is also in good condition, with just few potholes in the last 2 miles.

There are streams to refill water after 1.7m and 3.6m, and at park lake, so no need to carry more than 1L water at a time.

Took me 2 hours to park lake, 2.5 hours to PCT junction, 4 hours to Spectacle, then some exploring there. Total 8 hours for 16 miles, 4200'

Crossing Kachess river just after the TH is currently easy as the river is low, just simple rock hopping. Otherwise there are many fallen logs as well. Crossing mineral creek at 1.7m is very easy.

Yummy berries near Park lake and the PCT trail

Started our backpacking trip at the Pete Lake TH. It was really hot, 95 degrees! We spent our first night at Pete Lake in a lovely campsite by the river inlet.

Started our hike up to Spectacle the next morning in smoky skies. The smoke got worse as the day went on. Arriving at Spectacle Lake the views were clouded in smoke. Fortunately, an afternoon breeze helped clear the air a bit for the evening. We had a beautiful campsite on the isthmus. Toilet was located at the start of the isthmus up the steep hillside. Really full toilet!

Woke the next morning to so much smoke. We decided we had to hike out as it was very unhealthy. 11 hot, smoky miles to the car. We still had a wonderful time and enjoyed talking to the PCT thru hikers.

Only negative was that it is the start of bow hunting season. On the way out we saw approximately 20 bow hunters making their way up into the Alpine Lakes. Kind of disconcerting considering some had loaded bows on the Pete Lake Trail.

On September 1st we found a blue bag at Spectacle Lake with some personal items in it. It was at one of the first spots on the lake. If this is yours, please contact oceanmandy@gmail.com and describe the contents. We can arrange to get it to you.

Also this was my second time doing the trail and it’s a burner in the hot season but very worth it. Bring something to float in the lake and be prepared to take your boots off to cross water around mile 4. Lots of friendly PCT hikers on the trail. Epic views camping at the lake.