This was a great hike/scramble. Small amount of time spent in the trees before reaching the meadows. Apparently there was a black bear near the trail but we didn't see him. We saw about 8 other people on the trail (midweek, early fall). We reached the lake in 1.5 hours and then headed up Cirque Peak. We scrambled across the rocks on the left side of the mountain up to the ridge as the right hand side is very slippery shale, not sure if this was the easiest option but it was fun! Once heading up off the ridge, the footing becomes loose rock but the route is obvious. The views improve as you head up but it's not until you reach the peak that you see substantially more than you saw from the ridge (i.e, you can see the other side of the peak, there's a small glacier to look down on, and you can see further up the Icefields Parkway to Peyto Lake). Everyone should head up to at least the first ridge above Helen Lake for good views. The lake itself was not all that exciting. Coming down from the peak was much faster than going up had been! For sheer fun and good views I highly recommend this trail.