As noted, the road is closed, so you have to park at the gates and hike the rest of the way (which is not a bad thing!). I arrived at 9:45am and the road up to the gate was full so people were parking along the shoulder of the 101. The trail is in good condition and seems pretty well traveled. There were quite a few people out enjoying the holiday, including some sledders! It is a very steep grade up most of the trail, so expect to break a sweat. As you get closer to the top, the snowpack becomes more dense, so be careful not to slip! The north viewpoint was windy, shaded, and crowded, but a five minute walk over to the south viewpoint yielded a warm, sunny vista and some solitude! I walked along the road on the way back down, and it ended up taking me slightly longer to descend.

I know this trail says intermediate. But it felt like a hard trail. Steady uphill switchbacks that were pretty steep in some locations. The road is closed so you have to park at the gate. Halfway up is where it gets tricky. The trail is covered in snow and ice. We didn't have poles and slipped a few times but the view was worth the hike. On the way down we slid down on our butts to keep from falling. Quite hilarious.

Overall: A great, winter hike! Hiking tip for this trail: Bring Yaktraxs and poles. We also brought snowshoes, but they were not needed at all. While we saw a handful of groups going up the trail without trax or poles, life was much easier with them. No falling on our asses! The road to the trailhead is closed, so you'll have to park in the space right off of highway 101. But, this only adds about .25 miles extra each way, so not a huge deal. The lot probably held 10 cars, and we didn't have any problem snagging a spot. The road up to the trail head was pretty slick, so we put on our yaktrax right away. Once we hit the trail, we found that the tree cover kept the ground snow free for the first mile. About halfway up, the trail resumed compact snow and ice conditions. At the top, we were met a full on snow flurry. It was cold and snowy (with no view to speak of) but it was still somehow very magical. All in all, about 1.5 hrs up (a slower go with the snow) and 1 hr down. A very enjoyable afternoon hike with friends (and a dog)

The gate at the road is now closed so you'll need to park just off Highway 101 and hike about 1/4 mile to the trailhead. The road has compact snow and ice so it was slippery just getting to the trailhead. Once on the trail it was snow free for most of the hike, with intermittent icy patches the closer you got to the summit. The last quarter mile or so has compact snow and ice most of the way up. Having trekking poles and ice crampons were a big help, especially coming down when you are more likely to slip and fall. Made it up and back without any problems. There was fog looking toward Seattle so did not get to see the city, but Mt. Rainier was visible above the fog. The Olympics were visible and beautiful as usual. For a mid-week hike there were quite a few people on the trail today. I think I saw 88 or 10 hiking groups. Didn't see any critters other than the usual Gray Jays mooching at the top. Overall a great day to hike, get a good workout in and enjoy the scenery.

I got a late start today, so I headed up the trail for the Mount Walker viewpoint. The parking area was a bit icy, but the trail only had slush that was easy to walk through. On my way up, I found an awesome princess balloon, which made my day! Nearer to the top, snow was falling and the trail was coated with snow. At most, there was about four inches of snow up top. The trip down was much quicker, and since I had time, I decided to head up again via the road. According to Google Maps, this route is 4.4 miles. I made it to within 300 feet of the summit before turning around due to the coming sunset as well as a very chilly wind. All told, this is a great hike. I was happy to see snow, and there was hardly any mud on the lower sections of the trail.