We arrived at the Tunnel Creek trailhead around 8am on a Sunday morning. There were probably about 15 cars in the parking area.
The steepest part of the entire hike is probably the first mile or so leading up to Hope Lake, but the PCT section beyond that is well-graded. It’s a tiny bit muddy in some spots, but my shoes never got wet. The trail gets a little steep again after splitting off from the PCT heading towards Thunder Mountain Lakes. There were two small boulder fields to navigate through along this portion of the trail. We brought an older dog with us; and she had some trouble on the rocks, but it wasn’t anything unmanageable. Literally saw a tiny Pomeranian at the top, so your dog can probably make it up there too.
The lakes themselves are lovely. Plenty of campsites scattered around the top lake. We set up camp on a flat spot leading up to Nimbus Peak. There were about five other parties on Sunday night. There were definitely some mosquitoes, but it was windy enough that they weren't too much of a nuisance.
On Monday, we meandered down to the lower lake for some sun-lounging. There isn't really a clear trail to the lower lake. We crisscrossed our way over slab and did our best not to stomp on vegetation. Afterwards, we climbed up to Nimbus Peak (mostly class 2 until the very last bit, which is class 4) to watch the sunset/moonrise. Highly recommend.
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