Spectacle Lake — Friday, Jul. 4, 2025

Did this as a multi-day back pack with friends over the 4th holiday wknd.

Arrived to parking lot on Friday at 830am (from Seattle) and the hike in took four and a half hours.

Trail is mostly clear with a few blow downs, here and there. Fellow hikers have created safe pathways for the largest obstacles. River and creek crossings are do able with hiking poles.

No snow on the trail. Lots of bugs throughout, though we were lucky to have afternoon and evening winds on both days at Camp that kept them at bay.

Great swimming, gorgeous views of the Queens were the highlights. Since this is a popular trek, late arriving campers had to scramble to find camp sites; some had to crash larger sites bc there was no where else to go.

Unfortunately, a group of four had a campfire on Saturday night, and despite calls from fellow hikers to put it out, they remained obstinate and kept it going. It’s sad that people can’t follow basic rules of backcountry safety or listen to the community when/if they’ve made an honest mistake.

It wasn’t a surprise that when we passed their campsite on our hike out, the same group was blasting music and disrupting the chill once again. Absolutely abhorrent behavior.