A delightful alpine-view sandwich of a loop trip, with brushy bread.
Trail 1580, Chatter Creek - Quite brushy, intermittently, but if you can squeeze through the growth you are rewarded with excellent views once you start climbing the ridge at the northwest end of Chatter Creek basin. North of this ridge to the junction with 1570 was the only section on this trip that was a little hard to follow, but not bad. There were a few small snowfields, easily crossed, and cairns to follow.
Trail 1570, Icicle Ridge Trail - At the junction with 1570, turn left (northwest) and head up to stark Lake Edna. A sign leads to an open toilet with a view. A bear container is a must if camping here; there's no way to hang a bear bag on what few tiny trees are up here. The section from Lake Edna to just before Lake Mary was absolutely gorgeous.
Trail 1592, Frosty-Wildhorse - Lake Margaret is the least alpine, the least scenic, and the most buggy of the four lakes on this hike (Edna, Upper Florence, Mary, Margaret). But because I got high off altitude and views and wildflowers and wanted to cover a lot of distance my first day, I ended up there. The Frosty Creek drainage below Margaret is pretty wildly overgrown. It swallowed me up and spit me out the other side. It's a good place to roll an ankle, because you can't see the trail a lot. It's a great place to get soaked by morning dew. And it would seem to be an excellent place to be a thirsty tick, but I lucked out and got none. There is a freshly-dead deer nearby the trail on this section, after the unruly vegetation and just before the switchback. Be alert for wildlife that may be in this area to dine. Props to a trail crew working on repairing trail on this switchback.
1551, Icicle Creek - Right after the junction of 1592 and 1551 the bridge over Icicle Creek is broken, but can still be carefully walked across. This trail is gloriously easy, brush-free, shaded, and zen-like. The bridge over French Creek is out, mostly destroyed. One could probably get across it but I crossed on rocks instead.
Road-walking - Was luckily short. I was walking back to Chatter Creek trailhead -- as I hadn't planned this loop trip, I'd only planned on going to Edna and back, but kept going far enough that it made sense to just keep going -- but some wonderful fellow hikers who I'd met briefly on the trail offered me a ride.
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