I hiked to Snoqualmie Lake from the Snoqualmie Lake trailhead on the Middle Fork Road, with a brief stop at Otter Falls on the way back to the trailhead. I highly recommend Otter falls, definitely worth the 10 minute detour!
The restrooms at the Snoqualmie Lake trailhead are closed, and there were about 8 cars in the parking lot at 9am and again at 3:30pm, so plenty of space. There was only a moderate amount of traffic on the trail, surprising for such a beautiful day. I passed 6 groups on the way up to the lake, 2 of those after Otter Falls, and a handful again on the way down in the afternoon.
The trail was in good shape, old road until 2 miles before the lake so it's flat and easy going. Once in the Alpine Lakes it turns into regular trail, but also in good shape. There were a couple of blowdowns on each section that were easy to get around/under. Stream crossings were no problem, and the rocks weren't icy even with the temperature staying in the mid 30s later in the day.
Snow started to cover the trail completely at 2800ft, about 1/2 mile from the lake. Only the last 1/4 mile had deeper snow (1-2 feet), but firm enough and with a boot path so it was great going with no need for spikes. All the stream crossings were still exposed so no worries about punching through to water. It's a great time for this hike, at least until more snow arrives or things freeze up more.
The total distance to the north end of the lake was 16.5 miles per Gaia, so less than the WTA description says.
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