We were already staying at Holden Village for a week, so decided to do a one-night backpack trip out of there to Upper Lyman Lake, having heard reports from many in the Village that it's a true stunner. It is!
We left Holden after breakfast on Tuesday around 10 am, after a day or two of rain, so the weather was cool. There's not a lot of elevation between Holden and Hart, till near the lake when you have to go up and back down to get to the lake. There are a few spots where the trail feels pretty overgrown (though nothing compared to the trail to Lyman later). Lots of ripe berries. We saw a bear noshing on some, but she scampered away when she heard our footsteps. Also saw a large log across a bridge that appeared to have been gnawed down by beavers! One day hiker passed us between Holden and Hart, but otherwise we saw no humans.
After lunch at Hart, including a little swim and use of the campsite's nice little privy, we started ascending toward Lyman Lakes. There is a creek crossing right after Hart which was somewhat challenging but my feet stayed dry in my boots. Also was a good place to grab water before going up, up, up to Lyman. The trail between Hart and lower Lyman also has spots that are overgrown and extremely slow going because of that. Sounds like it's kind of impossible to keep it all at bay. Several areas have burned in the last decade and the brush is happily growing. We got to lower Lyman at 6 pm ish and saw one more human who seemed to be camping there. We decided to head to upper Lyman then, just maybe 1.5 mi further. Also, started getting cold.
Upper Lyman is truly stunning. Expansive, rugged, remote. Meadows with wildflowers. We were the only people there, probably because it's so hard to get to... also because it was SO BUGGY. The bugs were a real downer, to be honest. But, the solitude was really nice. The stars were incredible, of course. Nice privy in great shape.
We camped out for the night and awoke to a decent amount of condensation in the tent. We aired everything out at breakfast, and then ended up heading out around 11 to go back to Holden. Sort of wish we'd left earlier but it worked out. Hiked the same way back, took maybe 2 hours less time. The bugs are pretty bad throughout the trail and so it was best to just keep on moving.
TL;DR: stunning, remote hike, v buggy.
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