Plants are colorful not only in the spring and summer when their flowers bloom, but also in the fall when they stop making chlorophyll in their leaves and reveal the stunning underlying colors.

We fortunately hiked the Thomas Lake Trail just at the peak of dazzling fall colors and the last warm days of the year in the Indian Heaven Wilderness.

There already were 10 vehicles at the trailhead when we arrived around 10 am and we knew there would be a lot more vehicles when we returned as backpackers headed out for a prime fall weekend so we were psychologically prepared to encounter a lot of other hikers.

A strong east wind was gusting up to 30 mph so we kept our jackets on despite the sunny morning, hoped we wouldn't encounter any widow-makers, and started our hike.

We hiked past Heather, Dee and Thomas Lakes, took a side trip to Eunice Lake to visit the pikas in the boulder field there, and then took on the first big climb up the ridge. When we leveled out and entered the first meadows, we were stunned by the vivid colors.

It only got better as we climbed to the Indian Heaven plateau and a lunch stop at Rock Lake. We couldn't stop taking photos; each combination of red leaves -- Cascade Bilberry (Vaccinium deliciosum) -- and gold leaves -- Birch-leaf Spiraea (Spiraea betulifolia) -- looked more brilliant than the last. The low angle of the October sun really enhanced the back-lighting of the leaves.

Beyond Rock Lake, we found the Thomas Lake Trail flooded in four places due to a good rain storm a few days prior. The stunning colors around both named and unnamed lakes just kept going. The sun warmed the air enough that we could remove our jackets despite the wind. 

What an exceptional day!

This was my first time on this trail. I was a little unsure about roads from some other trip reports, but the route listed here (6507 off 30, turn left on 65) was perfect, the roads were about as good as I've seen. Any car could do it. The parking lot was full of 4wd vehicles when I left, but you don't need it.
The trail is in good condition, no obstacles.  I did do some side-trips on various other trails, and some of those had down trees, but the main trail is clear. Despite popularity, it didn't seem eroded.
There were some mosquitos, but not too bad.  Some flowers blooming, not the biggest display, but enough to admire.
The hike itself is beautiful, and today was a great day for it!  The view of the mountain was an unexpected bonus!

This is a beautiful hike.  Easy walk past gorgeous lakes and meadows.  We were camping near Mt. St Helens and decided to drive over to the Indian Heaven Wilderness.  The paved road was the worst part of the journey; unmarked holes and dips that could take out a tire!  Dirt roads were a little washboardy but better.  The only disappointing part was the smell of human excrement near the lakes.  People need to learn how to correctly dig a cathole, or bring a plastic bag and take out your S***!  In one place there was a pile left next to the trail, with toilet paper and a rock on top......With so many people using the backcountry, maybe a new system to educate about removing your own waste could be posted at trailheads.

Road: NF-6507 had some potholes and washboarding but should be doable with most cars. Note that Google Maps routed us through NF-65 north of the trailhead, which is in fact closed due to a washout. 

Bugs: Weren't as bad as we feared. With picaridin and permetherin I only got one bite. 

Trail: A nice jaunt through some lakes! There are still significant snow patches starting about 2.5 miles in, and lots of water and mud on the trail when there isn't snow. A couple blowdowns, the most annoying one just after Thomas lake. Avalanche Lilies are out in force in the lower parts of the trail. Not many flowers in the upper meadows yet, I'd give them a couple weeks.

Had a great 2 night backpack trip with kids, luckily finding sites at Thomas Lake the first night and Blue Lake the second night. We read the prior post about yellow jackets and covered ourselves in peppermint essential oil spray. They were really swarming the parking lot when we arrived, but no stings there, so maybe the spray helped? They seemed to be most active in the evening and in the sunnier patches and we saw the most in the parking lot and at the top of the ridge about 0.5 miles after Thomas Lake turnoff. Over the 3 days, 2 of us humans got stung once, dog got stung once, and 2 humans remained sting-free. They were mild stings, not the burning knife feeling I remember from my youth. As it has been warm and dry, the trails were dry and sometimes dusty. The path to site 4 at Thomas Lake is covered with blow-down trees, so that might be why it was still available even at our late arrival at 5pm. After walking around the lake the next day, I'd say site 3 is the best one - lovely lake view. The fall foliage was gorgeous, few huckleberries left but we found some right after the parking lot. Everything is very dry but campfires are allowed again, so we enjoyed those (small, well-controlled, and fully extinguished). After landing site 11 at Blue Lake (close to the water, incredible view), we did a day hike towards Junction Lake on the PCT. Interesting burnt forest landscape along the way and lots of cool mushrooms. This was a really fun and doable family backpacking trip, and the perfect time of year for Indian Heaven!