Hiked on Friday, Oct 30. We arrived at the trailhead just before 11am and it was empty, but another car (solo hiker) arrived while we were gathering our gear. We encountered 5 other hikers + 2 dogs total on the trail throughout the day. The ground after Camp Mystery was mostly frozen solid, with a few small patches of ice — we didn't need spikes and didn't have any trouble traversing these ice patches. No snow along the trail and no snow at the pass, despite a snow forecast for the night prior. The only snow visible during our hike was on distant peaks.
Out and back took us 7.5 hours, so we ended up hiking the last couple miles in the near dark/dark. Reminder: it gets dark earlier deep in the forest! We left the pass by 3:30pm and turned on our headlamps by 5:30pm (this was before daylight savings, when sunset was at ~6pm),with about 2 miles to go until the trailhead.
Hike was absolutely beautiful — lots of mushrooms deep in the forest, a few muddy areas, a handful of small stream crossings, vibrant fall leaves up in the meadows, and a gradual incline all the way up to panoramic Olympics views at the pass. Once reaching the pass, we followed the ridge up to the left (away from Buckhorn Mtn.) and ate lunch on a rocky outcropping before scurrying back down the mountain in the diminishing daylight.
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