4 adults (2 in 40s, 2 in 70s) hiked the first 2 miles of the lakeshore trail from the Sullivan Lake campground trailhead. There were >30 trees of various sizes down across the trail. A couple were almost too big to get over. Early wildflowers. Beautiful weather. Gnats in the parking area at the trailhead, but none on the trail itself. Lots of ticks. Overall, really lovely day.

Little steep in areas able to reach the lake

A gentle hike on a trail that is easy to follow. Over half of our hike was spent battling mosquitos which is why I would give this hike 4 stars vs 5 stars. The trail is lined with berry bushes so I suspect bears will enjoy this area in about a month. Beautiful lake!

A worthwhile hike. Trail is generally in good condition short of a few downed trees. Lake view vistas throughout. We did see Ell and mountain goats. Encountered many fresh bear tracks but no bears. Wildflowers in full bloom. Would highly recommend carrying bear spray or a radio for a little noise. Many locals mentioned recent and increased sightings in the last few weeks.

For this one, we really packed a lot into one day!  We left home a little after 6:30am to drive to Sullivan Lake.  The Noisy Creek campground is closed for the year, but there's enough space for a few cars to park just outside the gate (and there were a lot of us out enjoying the gorgeous fall weather today!).

The original plan was to hike to Hall Mountain, but we realized we didn't really have enough time for that considering our afternoon plans.  Instead, we opted for Noisy Creek as far as the creek crossing & back, and then did about an hour out on the Sullivan Lakeshore Trail before returning to our starting spot.

We were on our way to the Lion's Club Rail Riders final timeslot of the season, but we still had just enough time to stop by Sweet Creek Falls for a quick tour of the short trails.

All told, we hiked close to 10 miles in our three trail segments, and still made it to Ione with a few minutes to spare for our "Rail Riders" tour, which was also close to 10 miles.  We got our tickets for the ride a couple months ago, so it was a risk that totally paid off in terms of the fall weather. (They'll be doing it again next year, so be sure to watch for when the tickets go on sale.  They sold out months in advance for this year's rides.)  The entire day was just spectacular, with fall color but also a few lingering wildflowers.