Arrived at the trailhead around 8am and the parking lot still had plenty of spots, there were maybe around a dozen cars already parked. Vault toilets were reasonably clean and had toilet paper. It was smoky as we started the hike, especially once we got to the lake, but luckily it cleared out for the rest of the hike shortly after that.
While the trail is an out and back versus a loop, there are so many great sights along the way that doubling back never felt boring. Definitely recommend continuing on past the gap to just enter into the National Park boundary for views of the mountain and Crystal Lake.
Still plenty of wildflowers - lupin, aster, a few red dots of columbine and paintbrush along with fluffy pasqueflower seed heads. Lots of great birds, particularly in the morning near the lake where we had Nashville and yellow-rumped warblers along with a soaring golden eagle. Another favorite sight was a pika busily gathering grasses and flowers for its winter haypile.
We took our time enjoying the sights and returned to the car around 1pm where the lot still had a few open spots.
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