It was a beautiful day to experience this trail, the mountain stood out in sharp relief against the blue sky -- and the meadows were alive with phlox, astor, avalanche lilies, and some barely budding beargrass.
The drive in on FR7360 was bumpy -- potholes right from the start, the paved road ends quickly so you'll want to slow down immediately. There is a section of the road during the steepest climb that has lots of rockfall, very bumpy with lots of small, sharp rocks - it lasts for a good half mile or so and we took that section very, very slow.
As many folks have commented, the bugs are annoying and they start swarming as soon as you open the car door at the trailhead. We applied 100% DEET, and touched up with 25% a couple of times. I did not find the bugs terrible; I've experienced much, much worse on the mountain and on trails around Leavenworth/Wenatchee. If you have proper repellent on, you should be a-okay.
The first big meadow you approach is VERY boggy and the main trail is a swamp. There is a slightly hidden, well-trodden detour to your right so take a moment to pause and find it. We were so happy we found it -- much less muddy.
There are 5 or 6 trees down on the trail, some big ones that could be challenging to jump over for some folks, but our group -- folks ranging from 20 to 50 -- had few problems clearing them.
By the time we got to Grand Park there were quite a few folks there -- the meadows were alive with flowers, bugs, and lovely human faces seeking out this astonishing, restorative space.
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