Thought we were getting a fairly early start from Abbotsford but over 2 hours later, including over 1.5 hours on gravel road, and we were just starting. It was still only 10:30 am and the road was pretty mild as far as forest service roads go, no big water bars and mainly just mild washboarding with a few more moderate sections. The club tread directions are fairly accurate for getting there and the person's blog at "ihikebc.com" when you search Statlu Lake has great pics of the roads and trail directions. Basically, turn off the Lougheed highway onto Morris Valley road and drive straight on this for about 42 km until you reach the turnoff on the left that has large signage saying Chehalis-Mystery FSR. Drive on this for just over 8 km, and as you are heading down a large hill with a hairpin turn, you take a road to the right and follow for a few hundred meters where the new trailhead takes off to the left (Second pic is road and trailhead). The road is also on google maps the whole way if you follow with your phone.
Now getting to the trail, the new part of the trail that has been added since the slide covering the original FSR is well marked with lots of flagging but mildly overgrown with low shrubs. Old trail is in great shape to the lake. The waterfalls, bridges, lake and mountains around the lake were all amazing and worth the trip. While we were taking a break at the lake, we heard some rustling on the other side of the lake and were treated to watching a bear climb along the rocks for awhile, which was both entertaining and unnerving, as we still had some trail to cover. As we headed on along the lake, the trail started to get more overgrown, especially after the branch point for the brotherhood trail, I guess most people head up to the upper lake rather than the end of the lower lake?
Overall, a pretty good hike. Views were pretty good, it could have been a little clearer but I can't complain as we knew is was going to be somewhat cloudy heading in and it was still beautiful. Definitely bring bear spray/noise makers as I'm sure bears are a regular inhabitant of this area which is fairly off the grid. Worth the drive out, but not one I would do very regularly.