Gorgeous day. Still snow and ice toward the top. Deepest on traverse between North and South summit. Awesome views. We started hiking at eleven, passed three groups on the way up, 8 on the way down! Friendly folks with friendly pups. Lots of fun.

The trail is in great condition; the large tree that fell across the trail in the first quarter-mile has been cut and a path goes around the remaining root stump. Patches of snow begin to appear at about 2300 feet and then become continuous at around 2500 feet. At the summit there's at least one to two feet of snow. It was fun to walk between the two summits and try to identify the animal footprints.

Trail in great condition; no snow; slight frost heave in spots near top--no problems. Four previous blow downs were cut by someone, though there is a new stepover at a 14"" log across the trail about 1/4 mile up, and near a tree root that apparently couldn't be safely removed, though some of it was cut away--there is a ""walk around"".

We did a quick hike up to the two summits of Mount Walker to take advantage of the beautiful sunshine, and to use up some calories before the gluttony of Thanksgiving tomorrow. The views were great at both summits--the snow on Townsend, Constance, etc. to the west, and Mount Rainier emerging out of the fog on the east. There is a large blow-down about a half mile from the trailhead that completely blocks the trail since the root pack is situated right on the trail. You can climb up and around it, however. The other trees blown down are small ones, and all within the first mile of the trail. We only saw three other hikers on this sunny day.

Pleasant, cool, foggy day and no one on the trail, though cars parked at the closed gate just off the highway--likely hiked the road. Rather clear view at the top to the North, and new snow on Mt. Townsend, and the other peaks nearby. No snow at all on Mt. Walker, but about 8 trees down across the trail but only within the first 1/2 mile; one about 30"" diameter uprooted just next to the trail and a slight work around. Still the usual good training hike.