We had already done the 7.5 mile roundtrip hike to Lake Serene, but the book described the 4 mile trip to Barclay Lake as the easiest in the book, with a mere 500 feet of total elevation gain, and since it is right next the Lake Serene trail, we decided to finish our day taking the hike to Baclay Lake. It IS an easy hike. It is also a nice hike - a pleasant level stroll through mossy, shady trees, walking along the north side of Mount Baring.
At the start of the hike we noticed quite a few large stumps, but as you get a distance away from the trailhead, the stumps disappear and the forest looks pristine. It turns out that the Barclay Lake hike used to be 5 miles long, but in 1966 the logging road was extended - and the results of the tree felling are still readily visible today. It must take at least a hundred years for a forest to fully recover - unless some other catastrophe strikes, like a fire, an infestation of beetles, or a return of the loggers.
There is one section where the trail boardwalk snakes in between big trees, which gives it an exotic feel, but most of the time this is a straightforward walk in the woods. At the 1.6 mile mark, a bridge crosses the stream that drains Barclay Lake. We hit the point surprisingly soon. After that it is just a half mile to the lake. There were a bunch of camper with tents set up along the shore, and a couple people trying to fish. The lake is not that big.
I was glad we did this hike after Lake Serene. It is a relatively long drive to get to the Barclay Lake trailhead, it wouldn't have been worth going all the way out there just to do this easy 4 mile hike. It is a nice hike though.
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