This was my first time to hike Lake Lillian, and I managed to also do a side trip to Margaret Lake. Along the way to Margaret Lake, you get to also see the tiny Lake Yvonne and before reaching Lake Lillian there are Twin Lakes and some unnamed lake as well. It was the first time for me on this trail, so I got to see 4 new lakes today (counting only the named ones). I really liked the trail and I will probably repeat variations of it in the near future.
First things first. The road is in a great condition, a pothole or two and a bit of rougher surface here and there, but any car can make it. I parked in the parking lot about 100 feet from the trail. At around 8:25am I was the first car. On the way back, there were 3 more cars at the parking lot and one by the trail. I met 5 people on the way back in the afternoon.
The trail starts with the old logging road, and after about 15 minutes it turns left on a fork (one could also continue along the logging road but going left and cutting through the forest is certainly faster). There is a small, brown metal sign pointing to the left where the split is (walk only). The ascent gets a bit steeper then, with switchbacks along new tree growth, lot of blueberry bushes (but no blueberries anymore), it's very pretty this time of the year. Views on the left of the Silver Peak, Mount Catherine, Hayak, and a few others. The trail then crosses the logging road again and continues up, eventually going through a much older growth forest.
Before coming to the split to Margaret Lake (after the views of Silver Peak etc on the left), there are some views with Mount Rainier in the back (looking kind of backwards). I was happy to see it today, though it shows quite faint on the photos. With all the smoke these months it's hard to get a good view of Rainier, today was probably the clearest day I've had for a while.
The trail splits to Margaret Lake on a clearing, and there is a nice wooden sign on the right side so it's easy to spot. I also use GPS though because otherwise I tend to miss splits as I am focusing on the views. It's about 30 minutes return trip (about 1km) to Margaret Lake, down on the way there, and up on the way back. Super worth it though in my opinion, because you get to see Hibox Mountain, Mount Daniel and a few more on the right near the split, and then get great views of Mount Margaret a number of times and from the lake as well. Lake Yvonne is tiny, more of a puddle, but my dog loved refreshing there after the long ascent and then swam some in Lake Margaret. We took a short break there but had limited time and were not tired at all yet, so we moved on quickly.
On the way to Lake Lillian, there are some more great views on the left, including Granite Mountain, Bandera, Mount Kent, and then a bunch you would have been able to see earlier.
Next are Twin Lakes, which are both quite shallow. There were a few puddles around the lakes. Twin lakes look very pretty with the fall foliage (mostly blueberry bushes). Another opportunity for the dog to drink (other than the lakes, there were no good streams really, except for a muddy one I recall somewhere).
After the Twin Lakes, there is an unnamed pond on the left. Lot of ascents and descents, some of them relatively steep, but my dog had no big issues making them. We both got quite a workout though, up and down and then again. And then some more on the way back. Few logs to cross, but all except for one were low enough for the dog (big dog) to jump over (and easy for me). I was a bit concerned about the dog because there were very few reports with dogs and it wasn't clear what was the exact trail taken in those reports. No problem though (but some parts were non-trivial). Few fake trails to avoid, but most are pretty obvious.
After the workout, Lillian Lake showed up. It's beautiful, red and yellow leaves around, not a soul. The dog took another swim (he got to swim in 4 lakes today though it wasn't for free), and we turned around to go back.
On the way back, we got pretty tired eventually and I had to take a few breaks to let my dog drink and rest a little, but it was doable. Lot of dust, must be pretty mushy when it rains.
Overall, my GPS says it was 9.41 miles and 2,848 feet total ascent; my watch again overestimated the distance as 10.65 miles and 3,368 feet ascent. About 5:35 moving, and about 45 mins of breaks overall, so about 6:20 with all the breaks. I wish I had more time for the breaks but I had to be back by a specific time.
A beautiful day and a beautiful hike, loved the lakes and all the views, and I didn't see much smoke all day long (bit more in lower elevations as I was going back, morning was better than afternoon). I'll probably do two more variations of this trail in the near future: (1) A shorter version to Margaret Lake only and (2) Margaret Lake and Mount Margaret only. Must be tons of berries here in the season (too late now).
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