Blue Box Tr to Clear Lake
06/27/2023 Seven Mile Version (4 ½ hrs with lunch)- sih, cvg
Lovely walk. Not a single other person seen on pretty Tuesday afternoon. Short of time, turned around at Forest Service Road 2630, just short of lake. Frequent trees across trail, but easy to negotiate ***Cauliflower mushrooms in three spots, enough to pick and eat*** Just some lupin and a few isolated beargrass blooming in the Rock Meadows.
08/23/2020 sih, cvg - Excellent walk. No others on trail except couple near lake on very busy Sunday. Fair number of people at lake. The three or four large trees blocking trail in last mile near lake now cleared. Clear Lake very low. Flowers in meadow gone, but still a few late delicious huckleberries remain.
Aug 2018 - once again, very nice walk (first half mile and last half mile to the lake especially are a bit strenuous) on lovely August Friday, with no other hikers on trail. A few parties camping at Clear Lake. Sign at the old Viewpoint now just a skeleton post, and a few fragments of sign scattered amongst the rocks.
08/18/2018 sih, cvg
Aug 2016 - Very nice walk. Smaller trees have been downed to favor larger ones; some very impressive specimens. Hike ends at Clear Lake, which is accessible by road to camping area; distressing amount of toilet paper greets your approach to the lake. Otherwise, walk is pristine. Two or three times you have to negotiate some very large trees and associated deadfall across trail, and slog back up from the lake is tiresome.
Park in large Frog Lake Sno-Park lot, cross Hwy 26 and walk west (right) along shoulder about 30 yards, take PCT trail into woods, walk about 50 yards to two posts (no signage as of Aug 2018), and take trail to left which is Blue Box trail.
Best thing was total absence of people. On cool/cloudy/damp/misting Monday in August, the only other human beings we saw were a couple car camping at the lake; no one on the trail.
08/08/16 sih, cvg
http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/mthood/recarea/?recid=53152