We first attempted Lena Lake, but the road up was a mess of snow and cars that couldn't make the trip and had to back up the road until they could turn around. Do not recommend in current snow conditions. So we regrouped and hit Mount Walker. The roads are great to the locked gate. It's a short trek to the awesomely maintained trail. The hike is rated hard for good reason. It's an uphill beast. The nice thing is that it's quick and sweet. Snow starts halfway up. Spikes made the up and then down a crunchy stress-free experience. Since we started out so late, we missed the views and then hit pitch black on the way back to the car. It was my first time getting to use my headlamps so that was neato. Even without the views, it was an awesome hike that I can't wait to do again. I'll eventually get views. 

I've never seen so much snow on Mt. Walker! There was about two feet at the top. It would've been nice to have spikes,
although they weren't a must, but I highly recommend bringing poles. Big thanks to the ZZ Top hiker that packed down the snow at the top for me. Saved me some postholing!

We cancelled our first hike of choice due to snow and hunters in the area and found this trailhead pretty close. We parked at the gate around 1030 and found a spot, no problem. We took our time up the trail while observing mushrooms on the way.  The sun was playing peeka boo and the trail was quiet until about noon when a larger group came by.  There were traces of snow along the trail, but nothing impeding travel.  Easy navigation to the summit.  The views were pretty much socked in...we went to the south summit as well, but couldn't tell you if it was worth it because no views.  Not too much luck with the mushroom hunting either. Decent hike though and I can see why people would really love the hike when the rhodies are blooming!!

Great hike on a cloudy and moderately wet midday in the late fall.  Steady and notable incline from trailhead to summit.  We were fortunate enough to hike above the marine layer and get some peek-a-boo's of Mount Tounsend from the north viewpoint below the high clowds.

As of November 11th, there was no snow.  It was just a little muddy as the rains came on the way down, and there was some puddling, but the trail was in great shape, and it was easy to navigate.

Started the hike with my hiking partner about 20-30 minutes before sunrise. The trail is steep going up is a burner, the view from the top is lovely, make sure to hike to the South Viewpoint it’s even better! We only ran into a handful of people on the trail during descent, going down was difficult, we slipped a few times at some of the more steep sections.