Started on the Pete Lake Trail at 10:00am Friday, arrived at Escondido Pass at 3:45PM. At the trailhead, the main parking lot was full but the overflow lot was completely empty. The trail to Pete Lake is great, bugs were not too bad on Friday due to the cooler weather (I think). We continued North past the Spectacle Lake turnoff on the Lemah Meadows Trail before intersecting the PCT.
At this point, we began encountering more downed trees and other obstacles on the PCT. There are a LOT of switchbacks on the way up to Escondido Pass. Parts of the trail are a bit overgrown and there are many downed trees, high streams, and fallen branches along the switchbacks. None of it is overly difficult to pass.
We didn't see a speck of snow until about 4,900 ft. However, nearly everything in the tarn area was covered in 1-5 ft. of snow including the tarns themselves. We found a thawed place to pitch our tent near a small waterfall, a bit below the pass, then explored the ridge toward Summit Chief Lake for the remainder of the day. Most of the ridge was snow covered, but it was easily navigable without spikes in the afternoon heat. Summit Chief Lake was still 90% frozen over. We only saw two other groups at Escondido Pass, one duo was doing the Middle Fork Snoqualmie TH to Pete Lake - in one day!
Woke up early for a beautiful sunrise and began the long, switch-backy descent - arrived back to the trailhead at 1:00PM. The weather was better on day 2 but the bugs were much worse.
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