Lake Augusta, Badlands Trail & Painter Creek — Saturday, Jul. 28, 2018

WARNING: There is no trail between the Painter Creek/Badlands Junction and the top of the unnamed ridge that takes you to Battle Ground Creek. A handwritten USFS sign at the junction warns that it hasn't been maintained since 2014 and may be hard to follow. It is, however, non-existent and requires good routefinding skills and a strong will.

The trail to Augusta Lake seems to be little traveled, and for being such a beautiful spot, the lake itself seems to be little visited. The campsites are grassy, there were just a few firepits and we saw no evidence of abuse - no errant toilet paper, no garbage and no massive, forbidden alpine firepits (like, say, Goat Rocks).

The bugs were vicious, but it sounds like par for the weekend. We camped at Augusta and the bugs chilled out around 10p. Thinking the pass between Augusta and Painter Creek would be a little more windy, colder, and have fewer bugs, we moved camp there. Unbelievably, I was still getting swarmed at 1120p when I decided to go to bed. I was literally trying to wait them out to see when they would chill out for the evening. They won the waiting contest.

Bug and trail condition misery aside, we managed to have a good time. The scenery at Augusta and the surrounding peaks is phenomenal. Views of Mt. Daniel and Glacier Peak are possible, as well as views of Icicle Ridge. Augusta was ringed with blooming lupine. The water was warm enough to swim, and we had a small cliff to jump off into a deep pool right at our campsite.

TLDR: The trail sucks. Don't take the loop unless you like punishment. There were loads of bugs. Lake Augusta is a beautiful place.