While the middle section of the trail was pretty bug-free, there were a lot of bees and flies at the trailhead and at the lake.
Personally, even though the lake is supposed to be the main draw here, I found the lake itself pretty unimpressive (the bugs didn't help). There is a waterfall just before the lake that was gorgeous, much less buggy, and likely well-shaded all day, and IMO that is a much better place to sit and have a nice break.
The whole way down the trail I was worried about the trek back up, especially since there were some spots in the trail that were really steep and had sort of washed out a bit, but I was surprised to find that the hike back up was actually not bad at all. There were a few trees down across the trail and some spots that are really overgrown, but these are less of an issue than the steepness of the trail itself.
Our total distance from the small two-car parking lot to the lake and back was 1.99 miles and we had just shy of an hour moving time (though we spent about 20 minutes at the waterfall and another 5 or so minutes watching a family of sooty grouse, so about an hour and a half total time). We only saw one other group on the trail: around the midpoint of our descent we passed a couple making their return climb. Otherwise we had the whole trail to ourselves.
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