As the WTA description states, this is a steep trail that switchbacks tightly up Sulphur Mountain. It isn't until the very end of the hike, after 4000+ feet of climbing, that the trail exits the forest and climbs up a ridge with spectacular views of Glacier Peak.

The trail itself is in good condition with a few areas overgrown in vegetation. There are some logs across the trail, but all are easy enough to crawl over or under. No snow on the trail. As the description states, there is no water source available so bring plenty unless you want to scramble down to the lake several hundred feet below. Unfortunately, the mosquitoes at the summit were awful so we didn't spend as much time up there as we would have liked. We heard some marmots and pika but did not see any.

On a beautiful weekend day we only encountered four other hikers, so if you are looking for solitude, this is a great option.

My GPS logged 11 miles and 4700' gain.

We hiked it on a slightly rainy Saturday and had the mountain to ourselves.  The trail is overgrown with patches of salal in the first 1,200 ft but pretty easy to follow.  Since there was some light rain we got wet up to our thighs going through the salal.  Lots of trees down, maybe 30-40 total but only 1 or 2 were more than a trivial hinderance.  There's some pretty narrow sections where you traverse across a steep sloop between about 4,500-5,000 ft with wet from rain huckleberry growing on the trail and you had to brush through it or risk sliding down the hill.  Now we're we to our waist (and since I had shorts on the water ran down my legs and I had wet feet the entire hike).  But it had stopped raining and it didn't take long to dry off.  A few patches of blue as we neared the summit.  We hung out for 45 min and were rewarded with partial clearing and views out the valley.  The clouds were thick north, east and south so no views in those directions.  Check out my video. 

Went up Sulphur Mountain on the fourth of July. Hiked with my pup and a couple friends at a moderate pace and it took us almost 7 hours (6 h 52 m), with 5 h 46 m moving time. Clearly we took plenty of breaks, and a good rest at the top. The way down is "easier", but my comrades' knees did not love the steep downhill, so we took that pretty slow as well. My GPS registered a different gain/loss on thew way up than it did down, but the average of the two is just above 4400' as recorded on the hike description.

Not much for views the day we were there but the payoff was still great as the final ridge is beautiful. On a clearer day this would be an amazing hike for the views of Dakobed and the surrounding peaks. We had a rather mild weather day, but my pup and I still went through 3 liters of water no problem. ran out with two miles to go in fact. In hot weather I'd suggest bringing lots of water, as there are zero/limited water sources to fill up. It looked possible to scramble to the true summit of Sulphur Mountain (the highest point of the ridge is still beautiful, and not far from the summit), but we chose not to as it was another short descent before the scramble and I had the dog with me.

FYI: my track does not perfectly follow the trail shown on Gaia GPS. Not sure if we used an older trail, or just had a bad GPS signal (more likely) but the track we followed was fairly well maintained, with a manageable number of downed logs crossing the trail. And while the trail was overgrown by low brush at times, none of it was particularly scratchy, nor was the trail hard to find.

Hiked Sulphur Mountain Trail #794.  The gravel portion of Suiattle River Road (about 11 miles) is terrible, for the most part, because of ever worsening potholes; plan on an hour from Hwy 530 to the trail head at the end of the road.  A standard clearance sedan can make it okay but it’s just really slow going as you slow down and wind around the major potholes to avoid being swallowed up or launched through your roof.

The trail is excellent under foot with soft pine needles and small hemlock pinecones most of the way; a bit brushy in spots the first mile or so.  There are several dozen downed logs that are mostly step overs and a few logs that require going around but they’ve been that way awhile so a route around is clear and easy to manage.  The worst of the obstacles are within about an hour and a half of the trail head with easy step overs after that.  The only water, aside from the snow at the top, was a small stream about a half an hour from the trail head.  We managed fine carrying two liters of water each.

Our first snow across the trail was at 5200’.  After a short bit of travel the trail became more obscure with increasing snow; we put on crampons and using a point from the gps took the most direct route up picking the easiest travel through the trees.  On our route up on the snow we encountered occasional flagging which indicated we were on the route or someone else’s route that was going to get us to the top.  Crampons and hiking poles recommended with the snow; snow shoes not needed. The view at the top was gorgeous in all directions. 

My gps showed an elevation gain 4690’ and a total distance of 9.6 miles which is probably slightly shorter than when the snow melts because of the more direct route up and down while traveling on snow.

We set off on what we expected to be a challenging snowshoe with trailbreaking to the Sulphur Mountain summit. 

Unfortunately, a HUGE old growth blowdown was blocking the road just under 3 miles from the trailhead- impacting the Downey Creek, Sulphur Creek and Suiattle trailheads. Someone had tried to cut the blowdown, but there isn't enough space for a car to drive through it (yet). So, if you're headed here, check in with the rangers to see if the road is clear. 

We walked the road to the trailhead, hiked the trail where it was snow-free and then snowshoed to the lookout location, where the maintained trail ended. Snow level was surprisingly high, we didn't encounter meaningful snow until about 3700 elevation and at this point it was more icy (microspikes helpful) than snowy, although by around 4000 elevation we opted to wear snowshoes rather than posthole. 

We followed the approximate trail route to the lookout. Route can be done in any avalanche conditions. As you approach the ridgeline there is an open snow slope that you can avoid by skirting to the sides. There is a couple feet of fresh-ish snow on the ridge with a hard crust beneath it. Trailbreaking definitely required. 

There aren't really any views until the ridgeline, so it's ridgeline or bust for this trip! 

Trip took us almost 10 hours RT, 16 miles and approx 5000 elevation gain/loss.