The trail continues to moderately climb. When you reach the next junction (Boulder Brook and Loch Vale) continue to the right following the signs to Loch Vale and Mills Lake. The trail now opens up a bit to a gully with fantastic views of the peaks ahead.
Continuing through some dense forests and to the next junction, will bring you upwards towards Loch Vale or you can turn to your left to go to Mills Lake. We continued to Loch Vale and stopped at Mills on the way back. On this last part of the trail leading up to The Loch was .
challenging as the snow was fairly deep and a bit loose not to mention the steep incline, made this a heart pounding event, but very rewarding when reaching the top