Following the recent report, we decided to drive up a bit along the road before parking. After reaching the snow section 1.5 miles in, we backtracked and ended up parking at a large pullout 1 mile from the Deer Creek trailhead. We started at 10am and met one couple on their way down when we reached the Lake Kelcema trailhead.
The trail from there to the lake is much less obvious although we could sometimes spot the summer trail below the snow while following recent snowshoe tracks. We had the lake to ourselves at noon and the sun was just grazing the nearby summit. The tracks seem to zigzag randomly but they actively follow the summer trail. We could see it in a few spots (e.g., bridge at the start) although there is too much snow for it to be usable for most of the way.
On our way back down, we passed multiple cars that went much further up with kids. We met three other groups of hikers, either with snowshoes or microspikes. We had both but only used the microspikes as the snow was very compact. Some of the road snow had started to become softer on the way down but that was still very stable.
All in all, it was a great beautiful day!
Note: as others have mentioned, beware of the frost on the Mountain Loop Highway. We were going slowly on our way back and witnessed two cars almost bumping each other ahead of us as they lost traction while the first one was seemingly trying to pull to the side. It can be treacherous!
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