As posted in previous reports, the road is closed near exit 47. Park at Pratt Lake / Granite Mtn trailhead with a NW forest Pass or 0.3 miles closer at the SnoPark. Or, as some people did, Park with a NW forest Pass at the SnoPark and hope you don't get a ticket.
Road is plowed to the last Cabin, about 2 miles up. Then some snow and tire tracks, easy to walk without traction.
The vast majority of hikers goes to Franklin Falls, I had Denny Creek trail all to myself. The snow is extremely firm, I postholed once all day.
There is a well established boot pack up to "The Slides". Some hikers obviously used traction, but it's easily doable in trail runners. There are 4 trees across before you pass under I-90, otherwise the trail is obstacle free. Some dips#!t stole the "Wilderness Boundary" sign off the tree. The tree is discolored where the sign used to be, and there are 4 holes in the tree where the bolts used to be. I mean, really?
The log at the slides is gone, so crossing the creek is a bit difficult. The water level was really low, but the rocks were icy on both sides of the creek. I brought rubber boots and had no problems walking across. I would not want to jump with all the ice...
There are only a few footprints past the Slides, but the trail is very obvious and easy to follow. There are 2 more trees down within 500 meters of the Slides; one of them a 3+foot diameter one. Kekwulee Falls is pretty with all the ice. By the time you get to the upper log bridge at 3600 ft the snow is about 2 ft deep. The upper bridge is in, but it's easier to rock-hop than deal with the 2 ft of icy snow on the bridge. I tuned around shortly after, due to time constraints. I appears likely that it's possible to get to Melakwa Lake with just trail runners right now, though most people would likely want some sort of traction.
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