Road: Most road signs (maybe all of them) are gone, including anything that lets you know where to turn off of Mosquito Lake Road. Have a good map with you to find the trailhead if you haven't been there before. The road is in good shape with a few potholes. Do not get fooled by the orange arrow on the rock at the Y near mile 5. You need to go straight ahead, do not veer right.
Middle Fork Crossing: The riverbed vegetation is getting thick and the way to the logs is not necessarily obvious, but if you get to the river's edge you should see the crossing. The logs over the river are in place and crossable. My dog did it, but only under protest. Don't trust the old, rotten, rope "handrails"-they have been out in the elements for a while.
Trail: The first 2 miles are snow free. There are some logs down over the trail, mostly small or easy to cross. One required me to lift the dog up and over and leave the trail to get by. The snow starts where the trail gets a little flatter in the yellow cedar zone. It is mostly patchy, with a few snow fields and some long sections of bare trail. Lots of post holing potential right now. I was able to avoid most of that by staying near the trail on snowpack, but that option won't be available much longer. The Mazama Park section was very wet and muddy where it wasn't snow covered. All creek crossings were doable with dry feet, but there was no way to stay dry in running shoes through the swampy section. The switchbacks up from Mazama Camp to Cathedral Pass were mostly melted out, but still had some steep snow in places. Steep enough that I put on spikes for the final one, but the dog wouldn't cross it so we turned around about 200 yards below Cathedral Pass. The pass and Cathedral Camp appeared to be under deep snow still.
Mazama Camp: Melting out quickly. There was maybe 6" of snow where it remained. There were dry tent pads and the area around the shelter had a lot of bare ground. I didn't get a look at the toilet to see if it was full or not.
Flowers: lots of them and a great variety from bottom to top. The Queen's Cup in the forest were particularly abundant.
Bugs: mostly fine, but the mosquitos came out when I stopped to eat at Mazama Camp.
Dog: suitably worn out
Overall: This trail is not a casual hike right now (if ever). It feels longer than the mileage says it is and has some steep, rocky sections. There are still a few spots where minor route finding may be necessary. There was not a boot track to follow.
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