We go to the trail early (7:30 am) mid-week to plenty of parking. The trail to Eightmile Lake starts through a burn from 2017 resulting in little cover from the sun and a lot of shrubby new growth. Fortunately the views along the trail are plentiful from the start and the grade wasn’t too bad for our mixed-skills hiking party.

Peaking through the tree at the Stuart Range

Evidence of the burn are everywhere.

We were not prepared for the swampy trail conditions – nor the bugs! There’s a lot of standing water on the trail making for several stretches of very muddy conditions requiring balancing along makeshift boardwalks to avoid sinking.

The bugs were terrible. We, stupidly, neglected bug spray so were left to decide between overheating from long sleeves and hoods or bug bites; we opted for the former.

There are two lakes along the way, the first is Lower Eightmile Lake at which we did not stop. The only other people we saw on the ascent were two hikers who took advantage of the cold lake water and popped in for a swim.

Boulder field above Lower Eightmile Lake

We finally arrived at the upper lake hoping to enjoy a pleasant lunch but between the heat and bugs we stayed only long enough for a few photos and made our way back down to break along the rushing waters where a tiny amount of wind kept the bugs at bay.