Spent one night at Spectacle Lake, Friday - Saturday. We had originally planned on two nights but opted to leave midday on Saturday.

Road/trailhead: There is about 2.5 miles of unpaved road to reach the trailhead and it’s mostly fine. A few potholes but nothing that would prevent any car from making it. We snagged the last spot in the lot when we arrived around 10am on a Friday. Two other cars left shortly after us and those spots were immediately filled. The pit toilet was cleaned and restocked as we were gearing up to head out.

Trail: The trail to Pete Lake is mostly in the trees and unremarkable. We passed plenty of people hiking out for the day which gave us some hope we could snag a good spot at Spectacle Lake. We ate lunch at Pete Lake which wasn’t too crowded. The lake is nice and there are plenty of campsites. After Pete Lake, the trail continues in pretty much the same fashion until the creek crossing. On the way out, we switched from trail runners to crocs and the water was about calf high (I’m 5’11”). On the return hike, we just kept our trail runners on. We did see a guy cross completely on rocks and logs and stayed totally dry but also nearly fell in at one point.

We were mostly spared the heat of the day hiking through the burn zone thanks to cloud cover. It was much warmer in that same exposed section when we passed through on the return hike. The switchbacks were fine with some overgrowth and a little mud as you get higher up. Tons of ripe huckleberries kept us energized. The lake view after the switchbacks is incredible and a worthy payoff for a hike which mostly didn’t feature much in the way of views.

Campsites: Arriving around 4:30pm, many of the campsites were full but we managed to snag a nice one towards the end of the peninsula. It was busy but never felt overly crowded. On Saturday, there were quite a few people coming up when we were leaving around midday and I could imagine spots were at a premium with so many people arriving.

Bugs: It was often windy at the lake, so mosquitoes were only an issue when the wind died down. They were more annoying on our hike out, especially any time we stopped missing moving.

Toilet: After reading that the toilet had been removed, we opted to bring the recommended wag bags. A few people ask us about the toilet and we passed along what we had heard. A couple of ladies camped near us mentioned that they found the toilet and I can confirm it is indeed there! The map location on AllTrails actually takes you to a broken toilet but I’ve marked where the current one is. It’s in good condition and cairns make it easy to find just off the main trail. An essential piece with such a busy area.

Garmin stats: 21.93 miles & 3,494 gain. Does not include a lot of walking around the peninsula.

I did a 2-night Fri-Sun backpack, both nights at Pete Lake, with a Saturday day hike loop on the PCT / waptus pass / waptus burn trails, and a Sunday day hike up to Spectacle and back down to the Pete Lake trailhead.

Some mosquitos at Pete Lake but wasn’t a major issue! Met a ranger on trail who said the area was about 2-3 weeks ahead of usual in terms of bugs due to early snowmelt and is over the hump. More mosquitos at higher elevations on the PCT east of the lake.

Saturday's hike: Coming southbound on the waptus burn trail, the turnoff to the waptus pass trail was definitely missable — signage is on the wrong side of a tree from this angle and the intersection is a Y rather than a T so you don’t obviously see it. I missed it the first time! Waptus Pass Trail was great as a connector but otherwise a pretty meh trail -- steep switchbacks and not much scenery.

Sunday's hike: To get to Spectacle Lake from Pete, you have two options: (1) ford a very wide stream (this weekend, people were saying water was about up to their knees, but otherwise fairly doable), (2) take a detour onto the PCT that adds 1.5mi in each direction (I don't think much extra climbing though), which also involves crossing a stream due a bridge that's out. However, this stream is much narrower and has a decent log crossing accessed via a bootpath just downriver of the downed bridge. Once I got closer to Spectacle, I took a shortcut to Spectacle via what AllTrails labels as the Old Spectacle Lakes trail. This was very brushy, extremely steep, and tough to follow. It also ended at some wetlands right before getting to the lake, which I wasn't in the mood to go through so just picked a vantage point overlooking the lake and called it good enough. Not sure I'd recommend that route. 

Road paved and in great condition all the way until the last 2 miles, which were unpaved and a bit potholed but no problem at all for my VW golf so probably fine for everyone.

A friend and I hiked to Pete Lake and Spectacle Lake on July 5th. The trail to Pete Lake is well maintained, but I wish I had brought bug spray for the mosquitoes. After Pete Lake, the trail fords Lemah Creek. The water was knee high (I'm 5' 8" tall) and flowing quickly. There were a dozen or so trees that had fallen across the trail in the burn zone, but all were easily climbed over/under. The views from Spectacle Lake were incredible. 

Did this as a multi-day back pack with friends over the 4th holiday wknd.

Arrived to parking lot on Friday at 830am (from Seattle) and the hike in took four and a half hours.

Trail is mostly clear with a few blow downs, here and there. Fellow hikers have created safe pathways for the largest obstacles. River and creek crossings are do able with hiking poles.

No snow on the trail. Lots of bugs throughout, though we were lucky to have afternoon and evening winds on both days at Camp that kept them at bay.

Great swimming, gorgeous views of the Queens were the highlights. Since this is a popular trek, late arriving campers had to scramble to find camp sites; some had to crash larger sites bc there was no where else to go.

Unfortunately, a group of four had a campfire on Saturday night, and despite calls from fellow hikers to put it out, they remained obstinate and kept it going. It’s sad that people can’t follow basic rules of backcountry safety or listen to the community when/if they’ve made an honest mistake.

It wasn’t a surprise that when we passed their campsite on our hike out, the same group was blasting music and disrupting the chill once again. Absolutely abhorrent behavior.

We set out on the Fourth of July around 10:30am. There is still a water crossing like others have mentioned about a mile or so past Pete Lake. If you follow the main trail across, water is passable, and only goes up to about your knee. We brought Tevas to do our crossing. There are a few downed trees for the next half of the hike, but easy to navigate. It took us about 6 hours to reach Spectacle Lake and set up camp. 

Busier than expected, but probably due to the holiday weekend. We spent two nights at the lake. Well worth the miles! 

I am mainly writing this report to express disappointment in a group we ran into on the evening of Saturday July 5th. A group of 5 people were hiking down into the basin with a speaker blasting EDM music. It was incredibly jarring for everyone else in the area. As we were relaxing the rest of the evening, we noticed the group collecting wood throughout the area. They proceeded to build/start a fire where they set up camp in the very middle of the lake. We were across the water from them and reminded them that there is a fire ban, which they ignored. Another group shouted burn ban. Another camper walked over to remind them as well. All members of this group quite literally did not acknowledge that anyone was speaking to them and continued their fire the rest of the night. Outside of their ignorance, it was also pretty disappointing watching the number of other campers on their side of the lake that walked by the fire and did not say anything. 

I am not really sure what the correct course of action would have been if people genuinely are not even acknowledging people trying to talk to them, but regardless, just wanted to remind everyone that you cannot have fires within 1/2 a mile of the lake and on top of that, there is a complete burn ban for the area.