Great hike! Switch backs all the way, all day! We took the service road back down, easier on the knees and adds and extra mile or two? Love this hike. The views are the best.

Great hike! A couple of down trees, but easy to get over. Like everyone else has said, it's straight up hill. Bring hiking poles if you have them. Easy to find the Trailhead, park at the gate and walk up the road. The Trailhead is easy to spot up off to the right. It's started snowing on my way up, so very pretty but unfortunately no views at the top. 

A great training hike with 2 beautiful viewpoints (north and south). Arrived trailhead at 10am, there were ~8 cars total. First 0.3 miles is along the road, then the big climb of 1.7 miles and 2000 ft (22% grade avg) to the north viewpoint, which had great views of the Olympics. The trail was in perfect condition! Just one blowdown which was easy to hop over. No snow or mud to the north viewpoint. Minuscule patches of snow on the 0.5 mile road walk between the north and south viewpoints. The south viewpoint had great views of the Hood Canal and Rainier poking its summit above the low clouds in the distance. Took the same trail down instead of the road, as the trail was in such good condition and was gentle on the knees even downhill.

5.5 miles, 2160 ft ascent, 2:08 hiking time

Hiked up to Mount Walker on March 1st.  The trail is now snow free and in good shape.  I only saw one other person on the trail during my afternoon hike.  Nice views from the North Lookout.  Walked over to the South viewpoint, but clouds obscured the view.

Forest service road to the trail is still closed. Parked in front of the gate. About 10 cars parked here. Threw my American the Beautiful pass on the dash, just in case. Day was cloudy with sun breaks, low chance of rain. Trailhead is about 1/4 mi up the road on the right, just before the 2nd closed gate. One skinny tree over the trail, 2nd larger tree is about 2/3 the way up. Have to crawl over or step onto and over. Just before this 2nd tree, snow and ice on the trail. Pretty packed down, I arrived a little later, so it was slushy with the ice below a little slick. Arrived at the north view point, only person there. Beautiful views of Hood canal and the mountains. Two pit potties when you head to the road to the  south view point. One was open. Snow and ice all the way to the south view point. A vault potty here, one door was open. Beautiful sunny views. Could not see Mt Rainier due to cloud cover on that side of the sound, but Seattle was visible. Birds swooping in to check for snacks. Decided to walk down the forest service road. First 1-1/2 mi or so was about 4 to 6 in of snow and slush. This route is two mi longer than the trail up.  Saw maybe 4 or 5 people when I was heading up, no one in the way down.