Lake Serene
Central Cascades
As of late July 2026, Lake Serene's trail remains challenging, characterized by steep, rocky terrain and numerous boulder steps and roots, particularly in the upper sections. Hikers should anticipate difficult footing throughout the ascent. Several reports from mid-July mention sections of damaged wooden stairs and trail washouts, though many note ongoing maintenance by WTA and the USFS, with recent work noted on June 30th. Parking can be competitive, with the main lot filling early on weekends and overflow parking often being full. Reports from late July highlight a significant issue with human feces being left on the trail and near the toilets, despite facilities being available at the trailhead and lake. The forest road to the trailhead has some large potholes but is generally passable. The detour to Bridal Veil Falls remains a popular and recommended stop.
generated from 164 reports
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Bring your hiking poles since there’s lots of boulder steps and roots. Bridal Veils is not to be skipped.This was the first hike I’ve ever done where I saw and smelled so much human feces. I’m surpris...
Do not bring young children on this trail. In many places the stairs are collapsing off the side of steep drop offs. I've been hiking ten years and I did fine but I won't be back. Not worth it.
It’s been a minute since I have done this one!Trail in good shape, toilets at trail head… not so much. No TP and they need a clean.Hike is “trail runnable” for approx first 2 miles, then the stairs be...
Definitely a brutal hike. Got here at 6:30am on a Sunday morning and had no issues finding parking in the main lot, there were probably about 10 other cars there at that time. The further up you go, t...
Doing Bridal Veil Falls on the way up to the lake is good advice. It's pretty and you will not want to do anymore stairs on the way down.This hike is surprisingly strenuous. I would even say brutal ...
Wow, this is truly an epic Washington classic, but the trail is brutal. I really labored to pack my packraft and fishing gear on this torturous trail but it was worth it. Watch out for gargantuan pot...
Trail was in decent condition but the higher up we went the rougher the condition but was still passable in all areas. Flys were present at an annoying amount.
Really awesome trail up to bridal veil falls and then continuing from there it gets steeper and rockier. There were parts of the trail where trees/rocks had fallen and taken out chunks of staircases b...
The forest road to get to the trailhead is short with a few large potholes but very doable. We got to the trailhead a little before 3 PM and were able to snag one of multiple vacated spots in the park...
There are a few potholes on the way to the trailhead. It wasn't that bad. It being the weekend, parking was crazy. We had to park in the overflow parking and that also was full. Go early to beat the c...
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