After a rough enough road on the way up to the trailhead, we decided to park at the Coal Lake spot to use the pit toilet and avoid the last stretch of road. It is only 0.3 mile to the Independence/North trailhead, and as it turned out, that last stretch of road was not too bad. (There is no bathroom up above if that is important to you) We had a high-ish clearance AWD but did see smaller vehicles that made it up.
We were on the trail a little after 9am which was great for avoiding the beating sun in the places where it comes through on this trail. Ran into two families with 3 kids each who braved an overnight outing. Everyone seemed happy enough and this is a nice one to try since it is so close to the parking lot. Independence lake is a truly brilliant blue green and very quiet and peaceful. Past the lake, on the steep uphill slope, there were lots of wild flowers including tiger lily, columbine, yellow aster, penstemon, those white ones (queen anne's lace or cow parsley-ish) and more. One very large tree blocking a chunk of trail, but boot path has been established. Need to pay attention and go left around the blow down to stay on trail. There were 4-5 more down that required going over or around, but they were minimal in comparison. Enjoyed a hazy but clear sky view all around from the ridgeline above North Lake. Smoke is starting to creep into the skyline - wish we could get some rain. After some discussion, we opted not to go down to N. Lake. You can see it from the ridge line and it looks nice enough. Other descriptions say it is a rocky, rugged trip down (guide says 700ft). I have been to the ridge line at least 1/2 dozen times and have never gone down to N Lake - maybe next time and I say that EVERY time!
Trip out was easy and quick with a swim stop at Independence where we had the lake to ourselves at lunchtime. This hike checks a lot of boxes!
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