The Road is not great, but I have driven plenty worse.
On this day, the crown (i.e., the center portion of the roadway between the wheel ruts) looked higher than it actually was because the vegetation covering it was inches high in spots. The road surface was firm and provided good traction and no dust. There were a few short mud holes that were easy to drive through. In the WTA "conditions" boxes, I checked "high clearance vehicle," which I think is advisable, but I suspect that my old Datsun 210 would have been okay.
Vegetation does encroach on the roadway, but it mostly made brushing noises against the side of my car, with only an occasional fingernails-on-a-blackboard screech. I surveyed the car afterward, and there may have some light surface marks, but nothing major (it's a trailhead car and already has its share of cosmetic defects, which I figure comes with the territory).
There are some longish stretches without obvious pullouts. Shortly after starting my drive back, I encountered an incoming car at a spot where I would not have thought two cars could pass, but I eased off the roadbed to the right, and he managed to get by on the other side. In other spots, one of us would have had to back up a ways.
It took me about thirty minutes to drive from the Mountain Pass Highway to the trailhead. The access road leaves the highway just before the bridge over the Sauk River. There is no sign identifying the road. There is a sign on the opposite side of the highway that states the distance to Darrington.
The Trail is pleasant and not strenuous. It starts out on an old roadbed that is softened by years of disuse. It then enters older timber, with large old hemlocks. I counted 14 blowdowns across the trail that were big enough or gnarly enough that they could not simply be stepped across. All but one were easily circumnavigated or climbed over or through. The difficult one can be passed under with some effort.
It is worth crossing the meadow near the trail's high point to a vantage point looking east, which affords good views of White Chuck Mountain and Mt. Pugh. More distant are Mt. Shuksan and Bacon Peak and the tops of Dome and Sinister Peaks and Mt. Chaval. The trail from the meadow down to the lake is steep in a few spots, but they are negotiable without undue difficulty.
The Lake. On this Thursday, there was one car at the trailhead when I arrived, and I met its occupants at the lake. They were leaving, so I had the lake to myself for a few hours. A way trail along the eastern side leads to the outlet, where a jumble of logs provides a nice place to enjoy the sun. The lake water was pleasantly cold and swimmable. Few mosquitoes, but a half dozen large horseflies were more of a nuisance. Fortunately, their buzzing is apparent long before they land, and they pause daintily before biting, which gives one time to swat them. I did not see anyone on the hike back to the trailhead.
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