Monte Cristo/Silver Lake

This weekend I headed out to the old ghost town of Monte Cristo. (And old town in the mountains that was a mining town and was quite the thriving little place in the late 1800's to early 1900's.) There are plans to close down the town to all visitors for several years for some environmental restoration and cleanup, apparently there is arsenic in the water from all the mines. So I wanted to get up there one more time before they closed it.

So after work on Friday I loaded all my gear in the truck and headed out. I got to the trail head at 5:00 in the evening and I hopped on my bike and rode the 4 miles to the old town. The hike in, or ride in my case, is 4 miles of mostly flat gravel/rocks that was once an old road, but is now closed to all motorized vehicles. It is a very popular activity to ride your bike into Monte Cristo as witnessed by the many bike racks placed all around the campsites and town of Monte Cristo. The trail in is relatively easy however you do have to cross the Sauk River on a log which is quite large and wide so its fairly easy.

I got to the campsite at Monte Cristo just at 6:00 and took claim of the last available campsite. After searching for some suitable trees I set up my hammock and got camp all situated. Then I gathered some tender, kindling and fuel and started a fire in the fire pit. I sat and stared at the fire for a bit, then after that went out I went to sleep.

The next morning I woke up and met my brother and his co-worker at my campsite. (They rode in on bikes that morning.) After they set up their tents and got all situated and we all ate breakfast we set out to hike to Silver Lake.

The old trail to Silver Lake looked to be overgrown and abandoned. The trail sign now points to a different trail which was difficult to locate for us lot. The trail head is hidden behind one of the old buildings but once you walk around the building its easy to locate. The trail climbs steadily and is a mix of dirt, tree roots and rocks. You are amidst the trees almost the whole way apart from one short jaunt where the trees open up and you can see some of the mountains around you. It would have been a spectacular sight, but for us there were low clouds and visibility was severely limited. You climb 1600 feet over the 4 mile hike from Monte Cristo to Silver Lake but the hardest part is the last half mile where you climb almost 500 feet. Its quite steep but luckily its not for very long.

At the top the lake was nice, however by this point visibility was even worse and it started to rain. Clouds were very low and we were getting wet (I was not fully prepared for the rain.) We took a few pictures and filtered some water some the lake. It's best to get your drinking water as high as possible due to the potential of arsenic in the region. Our original plan was to continue on past Silver Lake to Twin Lakes and witness more majestic views. But due to the poor visibility and increasing rain we decided to skip Twin Lakes and head back down. On the way down we stopped at the creek and did some gold panning. There were traces of gold flakes, but we were getting rained on pretty good so we cut that short and headed back to camp.

By the time we got back to camp it stopped raining and started to clear up. We spent some time checking out the old town and looking at the history. Then we made some dinner at camp and then went to sleep. In the morning we woke up and ate breakfast and then packed up camp and biked back to our vehicles. The weather was much better and saw quite a few people heading into Monte Cristo as we were leaving. It was a fun trip but I wish it was a little better weather while we were hiking so we could have gone to Twin Lakes. A lot of cool history, and unfortunately it appears to be closing soon.

Region: Central Cascades, Stevens Pass-West
Distance: Monte Cristo 4 miles/Silver Lake 8 miles
Elevation Gain: Monte Cristo 400 ft/Silver Lake 2000 ft
Peak Elevation: Monte Cristo 2700 ft/Silver Lake 4300 ft
Difficulty: Monte Cristo Easy/Silver Lake Medium
Pass Requirement: Norhtwest Forest Pass
Vegetation: All kinds including ferns, moss, mushrooms, wild berries, sticker bushes, deciduous and conifer trees.
Water Source: You follow Sauk River from the trail head to Monte Cristo. 76 creek flows through the town of Monte Cristo. Silver Lake 8 miles from the road. (All water has the potential of arsenic, get drinking water from as high as possible.)
Wildlife: Lots of birds, frogs, slugs, various insects, chipmunks.

As always check out all the photos of the hike and every hike by clicking on the "Photos" tab.

Upper Lena Lake

Day 1

I had been looking forward to this hike for quite a while now. I was really excited when the day finally arrived. It was a Friday so I still had to go to work, but I contemplated leaving early all day long. But alas I didn't. I had too much work to do. Finally when my workday was over I literally ran to my car and drove straight to my destination. It took me quite a while to reach the first stage of my trip. 4 hours and a ferry trip later I reached Lena Creek Campground where I camped for the night. Because I arrived rather late and I had been up since 3:00 am I didn't do much other than set up my tent and walk around the campsite for about 30 min. Then I went straight to sleep for my big day in the morning.

Day 2

This day was...difficult to say the least. It started out great. I woke up packed up my tent and headed to the trailhead for Lena Lakes. I started hiking to Lena Lake and that was quite easy actually. The trail was really well maintained. It was a mix of dirt, gravel and some big rocks, but it was nice and wide and exactly zero blowdowns to navigate around. I got there pretty quick and spent some time relaxing and eating lunch. There were a handful of groups at the lake, some camping and some doing some fishing. I imagine it would have been more beautiful had the low clouds gone away. There was no sunshine at the lake, but at least it wasn't raining. After Lena Lake I headed for Upper Lena Lake. This is where things got difficult. As soon as you leave Lena Lake the trail narrows and becomes less forgiving with lots of tree roots, large rocks and several blowdowns on the trail, not to mention the intense gradient change. The trail steepens, gaining about 2000 feet the last 2 miles. I was quite tired by the time I got to the top. I had rested several times and changed my shirt 3 times. Each time my shirt was completely drenched in sweat, so whenever I stopped to rest I got cold quickly. The sun finally started peaking through once I arrived at Upper Lena Lake. As soon as I got to the top I laid down and rested for a bit. Then I set up camp and cooked some dinner. Then laid down some more, I was tired. But resting in my hammock looking out at the lake was quite relaxing, peaceful and worth it.

Day 3

I woke up after a great night sleeping under the stars in my hammock. I got to see an amazing sunset, stars at night and a

beautiful sunrise all while resting peacefully in my hammock. (By the way, if you haven't caught on yet, I much prefer a hammock over sleeping on the ground!) I made some hot breakfast on my stove, and started to pack up my campsite. After spending some time at the lake and enjoying the sunshine I headed back down the trail. I found going down was faster, but a little more dangerous especially with a full pack on. Because it was steep and my legs were very tired from the day before and the loose dirt/rocks on the trail there was very good potential of slipping and falling. I managed to make it down with only one minor fall. I slipped on a slick rock causing my front leg to spread forward causing me to almost do the splits, luckily I'm somewhat flexible and nothing major was hurt. I did see some folks from WTA doing some maintenance on the trail cleaning up some of the blowdowns. So that was nice. I took a quick break at Lena Lake on my way down and reached the trailhead in about 2 hours from Upper Lena Lake. Then I made the long drive home but was able to enjoy a nice ferry ride due to the beautiful weather. All-in-all it was fun trip and a good first trip to the Olympic National Forest.

Region: Olympic National Forest, East
Distance: 7 miles
Elevation Gain: 4000 feet
Peak Elevation: 4570 feet
Difficulty: Difficult
Pass Requirement: Yes. All passes honored here.
Vegetation: All kinds including ferns, moss, mushrooms, sticker bushes, wildflowers, deciduous and conifer trees.
Water Source: Lena Lake at 3.0 miles. You cross Lena Creek at 5.0 miles and reach Upper Lena Lake at 8 miles.
Wildlife: Lots of birds, frogs, slugs, various insects. Lots of fish in the lake.

As always check out all the photos of the hike and every hike by clicking on the "Photos" tab.

Greider Lakes

Today is the EXACT reason why I LOVE the Pacific Northwest and precisely the reason I started this blog. It was an absolutely perfect day for hiking. Blue skies and 75º with a light breeze.

This morning I was headed toward Greider Lakes. The trails to Greider Lakes and Boulder Lake now start at Spada Lake. You hike along an old closed road for 2 miles before you get to the old trail heads of Greider Lakes and Boulder Lake. The road from Spada Lake to the old trail head is gravel and mostly flat except for the constant gullies that have been constructed to make it impassible by vehicles. This part of the trail could make for decent trail running and even possibly mountain biking if you don't mind dismounting every so often for the deep gullies and downed trees. (I think I might try biking it next time just to make it a quicker trip.) Don't forget to check out the Spada Lake overlook as you hike along this road en route to either Greider Lakes or Boulder Lake.

Once you reach the old trial head of Greider Lakes you start hiking on a VERY overgrown trail. You notice almost instantly this trail has been neglected for quite some time. After a few hundred yards you get out of the heavy brush and the trail opens up a little bit. The trail conditions go from compact dirt to rocks/small boulders and large tree roots all while navigating over/under/around several downed trees. You climb approximately 1500 feet in about 1.5 miles. After you reach about 2900 feet you continue for another .5 mile or so until you reach Little Greider Lake.

Little Greider Lake was nice and quiet. I was the only one there; there were no other cars in the parking lot when I arrived. I knew I was the only one up there, but I did find two tarps and a tent...very strange. I don't know how someone could manage to leave behind their tent. There were about 4 established campsites at Little Greider Lake.

Then I continued on to Big Greider Lake. Big Greider also has a few established campsites for camping overnight. The trail from Little Greider to Big Greider is a short hike but VERY VERY overgrown. Its doable but just be very cautious of your footing, because its hard to see where you are stepping. But I must say I was very glad I went, it was the most peaceful time I've had in a long time. I enjoyed a nice beautiful hike down passing only 5 parties totally 17 people on my way out. This is truly one of the forgotten trails of the region.

Region: Central Cascades, Stevens Pass-West
Distance: 5.2 miles
Elevation Gain: 1500 feet
Peak Elevation: 2970 feet
Difficulty: Medium
Pass Requirement: None (I think). You do have to register your vehicle at a registration area, and display that on your dash while you're there, but there is no charge.
Vegetation: All kinds including ferns, moss, mushrooms, sticker bushes, skunk cabbage, wildflowers, deciduous and conifer trees.
Water Source: Trail begins and Spada Lake, you hike along Spada Lake for 2 miles on an old road elevated from the lake. You cross a few creeks along this road and leave the road just as the lake connects with Sultan River. Little and Big Greider Lake 4.5 and 5 miles respectively.
Wildlife: Lots of birds, frogs, slugs, various insects. Lots of fish in the lake.

As always check out all the photos of the hike and every hike by clicking on the "Photos" tab.

Mount Pilchuck Search and Rescue

Well my plans to go on a hike to Greider Lakes was foiled by a call to go out on a search and rescue mission. We went up to Mount Pilchuck to pack out an injured hiker at about 8:00 pm Friday night. Ended up escorting his 2 uninjured buddies down at about midnight. Went back up to the injured hiker with hypothermic gear and stayed the night on the mountain and waited till first light for a helicopter rescue.

Here is an article about it.

Region: North Cascades-Mountain Loop Highway
Issue: Injured hiker-pack out
Mission Length: 15 hours

Eagle Lake

What better place to go than the lake named after the National Bird of The United States of America on our nation's Independence Day. Eagle Lake on the 4th of July. This lake is a less-known and even less-visited lake situated between Baring Mountain and Townsend Mountain near Skykomish.

There are two different ways to get to Eagle Lake. One way is by taking the Barclay Lake trail and then going up to Eagle Lake, this way is easier to find and get to as Barclay Lake is pretty well known and accessible. But the hike from Barclay Lake to Eagle Lake is extremely difficult (from what I've heard, I've never gone that way.) The other way (which is how I went today) is much more difficult to find and access. It is accessed through a variety of gravel forest roads and there is no marked trail head. But the hike to Eagle Lake is easier.

First off the trail was difficult to see form the forest road, luckily there was already one truck parked right where the trail started so we had a good idea where to look. The first half mile or so of the trail was very narrow and overgrown. Which made it especially difficult for me as I was hiking with my 16 month old girl on my back, and I had to be sure and not let branches whip her in the face. (I was also hiking with my wife and brother.) After the overgrown area of the hike the trail still remains narrow and you begin to hike under trees that shade most of the entire trail. The trail climbs steadily for the first mile or so all on a trail that is covered in tree roots and uneven terrain. There were a few blow-downs on the trail as well that required climbing over or around. The trail was almost entirely dry until you reached the top.

Toward the top the trees open up and a little snow is left in some areas. The snow is melting due to the hot weather which means a lot of the open areas are swampy and muddy. Plus once you reach the opening in the trees you are close to the lake and Eagle Creek is flowing right next to the trail so that causes a lot of wetness in the area. Because of the snow it was hard to tell where the trail was exactly, but it was easy enough to know where you are going. So we just headed for the lake.

The lake was pretty majestic. Nestled a midst mountain peaks and trees it is truly a secluded gem. The lake has 2 campsites for those wishing to camp overnight. There was a dad and his daughter who was about 10 years old camping there and they said the fishing was great. And perhaps the coolest part about the lake is a cabin right on the lake front fully stocked with clothes, sleeping bags, lanterns, cooking ware, stoves, propane, axes, saws and even a fireplace. It was really quite awesome.

Region: Central Cascades, Stevens Pass-West
Distance: 2.3 miles
Elevation Gain: 620 ft
Peak Elevation: 3970 ft
Difficulty: Easy
Pass Requirement: None, you're out in the middle of nowhere. No established parking or trail head.
Vegetation: Lots of trees for shade throughout the hike, undergrowth including berry plants, ferns, moss and grass in the fields at the top.
Water Source: Eagle Creek and Eagle Lake about 2.3 miles in.
Wildlife: Lots of birds, a few mosquitoes, frogs, deer track and bear signs. Lots of fish in the lake.

As always check out all the photos of the hike and every hike by clicking on the "Photos" tab.

Boardman Lake

GNATS! The hike to this lake is a quick and easy one. You reach your destination of Boardman Lake in just under a mile. This was my first time there which is surprising considering it's one of the more popular ones on Mountain Loop Highway. GNATS! But I decided to finally make my way up there for a couple reasons: I knew it was an easy hike (and that seemed like a good plan because I was just coming back from an ankle injury) and I wanted to camp overnight because I knew the weather was supposed to be great and Boardman lake has established campsites.

The trail up to the lake is almost all dirt and considering this is Western Washington it was mostly soggy /muddy due to the wetness of the region. GNATS! (For a brief time I was hiking behind a family and a girl about 10 or 11 years old was complaining that her feet were wet/muddy because she was wearing sandals. Her mom said "I told you to wear shoes." And the young girl replied "but those didn't go with my outfit, and you never know who is going to see me up here!" I thought the whole thing was funny and it made me laugh.)

Unfortunately the trail was in pretty bad shape. There was quite a bit of blow-downs all over the place. They were easy enough to maneuver around but it just made the trail seem sub-par. GNATS! I'm sure it has to to with the recent budget cuts. And at one point where there is a switchback in the trail there is a mudslide right into the trail and it masks the turn, consequently I missed the turn and went a few yards before I realized the trail had disappeared and had to backtrack to find the right trail again.

Once I reached Boardman Lake I had to cross a single narrow log over the outlet of the lake to get to the campsites. I made it across just fine but the family I previously mentioned didn't even attempt to traverse the lone log. I searched for a suitable campsite where I could hang my hammock between two trees. I found one and set up camp. GNATS! I slept great on the hammock, for those of you who have never tried it, you should, sure beats sleeping on the ground! There are 4 campsites at Boardman Lake and all of them were full: one looked like it was a boy scout troop and two had families with young kids and then I occupied the last one.

In the morning I got up, took down my gear and headed out early...I planned on hanging around a bit more and enjoying the day but there was one major problem with this lake. Perhaps you've already noticed it. GNATS! The bugs were absolutely unbearable. Every single second they were swarming unrelentingly. I was afraid to open my mouth for fear of consuming several gnats at one time. I was totally unprepared for the bugs. I didn't bring any bug spray or any kind of repellent. The only solace I found was in my hammock with my bug net. So I made my quick exit and left the others to deal with the bugs.

Distance: .9 mile
Elevation gain: 300 ft.
Peak Elevation: 3100 ft.
Difficulty: very easy

Pass requirement: Northwest forest pass.
Vegetation: Lots, everywhere, including but not limited to conifers, deciduous, and evergreen trees, ferns, moss, mushrooms, skunk cabbage, and sticker bushes.
Water source: Evan Lake .1 mile into the hike, Boardman Lake .9 miles.
Wildlife: Gnats, lots of them, everywhere. Snakes, birds, woodpecker, fish, posting of "Beware of Bears" at the trail head.

Trust your Gut

Lately I have been trying to get back into better shape. I have been exercising and working out almost every day for a couple months now. I've been able to get out and hike a handful of times this year. And I've also been playing basketball a couple times a week to help get my endurance up to par. Yesterday I was playing some pickup ball after work and played several games and had won 3 or 4 games in row. I was about to call it quits for the day and head home. But then my teammates convinced me to play one more game. I should have trusted my gut and left when I initially felt like I was done. 

About half way through that last game I jumped up to attempt to block a shot but then got undercut by another player and came down on the outside of my foot and rolled my ankle with all my weight coming down on my turned ankle. I felt a pop in my ankle and went down immediately. There was massive swelling almost instantly. I elevated my foot and iced it for quite a bit before I left the gym. Got home took some Ibuprofen and continued to ice and elevate my foot. Within an hour my ankle was massivley swollen and by the next morning it started to turn a light purple color. 

Needless to say this will prevent me from hiking for some time.  I'll try to work on other aspects of this site and keep things updated as much as possible. Hopefully I can make a quick and complete recovery and get back on the trail as soon as possible. 

Lime Kiln Trail

Well today I was back in my home town and looking for a hike I've never done before. This one just happened to be only a short distance from where I lived so I thought I'd give it a go. I headed toward the trail slightly later than I anticipated and when I normally would have gone. But when I got to the trail head I found out I was lucky I did, because the trail head is closed until 7:00 am. So I got there about 7:20 am and started during a slight drizzle and about 56 degrees. The trail started out looking like a bonafide rain forest. (Or perhaps it just seemed that way since I just spent the last week hiking around the much dryer central Oregon.) But needless to say it was very green, with trees, ferns and moss all under a beautiful canopy.

After a short distance the trail opens up, the canopy disappears and you are walking down a wide path that looks like a 4wheeler trail (although they aren't allowed here). The trail is mostly heavily packed dirt and rocks. There is little elevation change and is quite easy. The scenery changes off and on from under a thick canopy and narrow trail to an open trail where you can look to the sky, which happened to be covered in clouds today, however the light drizzle did stop shortly after I started this morning.

Once I got to the kiln site I was amazed at how big the kiln actually was. It was much bigger than I anticipated. I did have the desire the climb it, but there was a sign that said "Please do not climb" so I didn't. But all in all it was an impressive thing to look at and examine. To be able to build such a thing hundreds of years ago is quite a feat. At the site there is also a bunch of scattered bricks and metal shards of old tools. After the kiln I continued on the trail which descends to the South Fork Stillaguamish River. Down at the river it seems to be a common practice to stack rocks on top of each other...which seemed a little strange to me.

I jogged about half way on the way back. This trail is well suited for trail running, however I didn't run the whole way because I wasn't wearing my trail running shoes, and my hiking shoes weren't made for jogging. On my way back I only came across 6 people. Which isn't entirely surprising considering its a Friday morning and not-so-great weather. But it made for an enjoyable hike for me. This is a great hike for kids and the whole family, its easy and it has some interesting history to it. Check it out.

Vegetation: Lots, everywhere, including but not limited to conifers, deciduous, and evergreen trees, ferns, moss, wildberries, mushrooms, skunk cabbage, wildflowers, and sticker bushes.
Wildlife: I heard lots of birds singing along the whole trail. While walking along I heard some movement in the bushes, I'm assuming they were just birds. I saw a rabbit, slugs, snails and a snake. Bugs were almost non-existent. I didn't have any problems with pesky bugs or mosquitoes, too cold for that still.
Water Source: About 1.3 miles in you pass Hubbard Lake which is small and is easy to miss from the trail due to thick trees and vegetation. About 1.7 miles in the trail follows South Fork Stillaguamish River, but you cant access it very easily because the trail is high above the river. But the trail does end up at the at the River after 4 miles.

Peterson Ridge Trail

Well today was a day full of disappointments. I started out in search of a good Lake hike. I headed toward Green Lakes Trailhead. About 6 miles from the trailhead I ran into a "Road Closed" sign. Apparently there had been some wildfires in the area and the roads were closed in that whole area for the next year or so. I didn't feel like hiking an extra 6 miles just to get to the trail head, I was on a time crunch this morning. So I headed back toward Sisters Oregon looking for option number 2. Luckily I did find a cool spiderweb of trails just outside of the small town of Sisters called the Peterson Ridge Trail. So I parked and started hiking, I soon realized this is a perfect spot for some trail running so I synched up the backpack and started jogging. It was a perfect trail for jogging and biking and in fact I came across several people doing just those things. Although there were many different trails interconnected to one another it might have been easy to get lost, but at every intersection there was a sign clearly labeled with where you are and where each path goes with a distance marker on it. The trail was almost all dirt with an occasional rock or tree root in the trail. As I ran I would constantly run from under the sunbeams into shade from the dispersed trees. It was a great clear warm morning and I had a good workout.

I managed to jog several miles and then came across a spectacular view point along the trail of several of the peaks here in Central Oregon. I took pictures of the Three Sisters and one other peak I am unaware of what its called. It was truly a sight to be seen. Then I turned around and headed back...this is where another disappointment came in my day. While transferring my photos I had just taken today to my computer somehow they were all deleted and I wasn't able to save or use any of them. So unfortunately you'll have to just read this post and take my word for it...

UPDATE!!!

Somehow my photos reappeared. I think they got saved to my iPhoto Stream account as soon as they entered into my computer but thats when my computer froze and then the photos were gone once I rebooted. I thought they were lost forever, but they saved to the cloud! Thank you iCloud! Enjoy!

Deschutes River Trail

Today was a pretty easy hike, it was more or less a walk. But it was pretty and enjoyable. I had my wife, baby and pregnant sister tag along with me this morning. We hiked along the Deschutes River Trail here in Redmond Oregon. Nothing too strenuous, just a nice easy dirt trail along the river. There were several other people hiking along the trail and all of them mentioned how cute the baby looked sitting in my baby carrying backpack. The morning started to warm up under the bright sun and as we headed back our little one fell asleep in sitting up in my pack. It was just a nice relaxing hike by the beautiful river.

Misery Ridge Trail

This morning I started from the trail head Smith Rock State Park at 7:00 am. There were a few other people in the park, some looking to summit the rocks (as I was) some looking to do some rock climbing at this world renowned park for rock climbing. It was a cool sunny morning but the temperature starting to rise along with the rising sun.

The climb to the summit happens via Misery Ridge Trail which is very appropriately named. The trail is literally a climb everyone step of the way. The trail is a dry dirt trail with loose rocks every now and then. So be cautious at every step. Once you reach the summit you get spectacular views of the valley below, the Deschutes River, the town of Terrebonne, and the 7 peaks that central Oregon is famous for.

After taking a few pictures at the summit, and eating a few snacks (and catching my breath) I headed back down the steep trail to the trail head. The park has much more to offer than just this trail I took today. There are many trails to hike, bike, climb, and horseback along the river or up to the summit. It seemed to be a very popular state park as witnessed as I returned to the parking lot full of cars and tour buses at about 10:00 am. It truly looks like a park full of options and fun to be had.

Lake Serene

Today was my first hike in longer than I care to admit. My wife and I had our first baby within the last year so that has taken much of my free time. Consequently my fitness level and conditioning are not where I would like them to be. So keep that in mind as I describe my experience on this hike.

Well I started out quite early...I try to beat the crowds. I started at the trail head at around 7:00 am with a beginning temperature of 48°F cloudy and a light drizzle and when I commenced my hike there was only 1 other truck in the parking lot. Shortly after beginning my hike I came across one guy already coming down (he must have started REALLY early.) Normally I do enjoy running on certain trails. I want to make it clear this trail is NOT conducive to such an activity. The trail starts out pretty easy enough. 1.7 miles into the hike the trail splits into two where you can either continue on another 2 miles to Lake Serene or venture off .5 miles to Bridal Veil Falls (very worth it, spectacular view of the falls.) This is where the trail becomes quite difficult. You gain 1400 feet in just 1.5 miles. The trail is quite rocky with lots of man made stairs and loads of switchbacks. This is where good sturdy hiking shoes/boots are a must. I toe-punched several large rocks especially as my legs got more and more tired. I've seen several people on this trail with running shoes, Vibram finger shoes, and even a few in sandals! A terrible plan if you ask me.

Once I reached the top almost exactly 2 hours after starting the hike (drenched in sweat from the climb) I found the Lake almost entirely frozen over and covered in snow. After sitting around for a few minutes eating some snacks I cooled off very quickly. The combination of being covered in sweat and it being around 41°F at the lake made it quite chilly. The lake is quite remarkable nestled amidst skying peaks. I spent a short time taking in the sights and taking a few pictures.

The hike down was much easier and quicker than coming up. A lot more crowded as well, in fact I came across 98 people making their way to Lake Serene. (Now you know why I enjoy going earlier to beat the crowds.) The sun started to make its appearance later in the morning. I also stopped to take a few pictures of some of the waterfalls you can see right from the trail. Made my way back to the trail parking lot full of cars at around 11:30.

(Here is a video of a confused wood pecker I saw on along the trail)