The hike description is right on when it says Upper Lena Lake is for hearty hikers. It's early in the season for this hike and I knew it would be a test of my endurance, but a friend and I decided to try the 14-mile hike.
The first three miles to the junction was a piece of cake and we saw a handful of other hikers heading to Lena Lake. After reaching the junction, the trail remained in good condition, but we did have to navigate multiple blowdowns and dozen or so stream crossings, but they weren't anything to write home about. We had to do some scrambling between mile 5 and 6 (rough estimate of mileage) which felt sketchy at times, but my hiking buddy and I got through it just fine. In the last mile we encountered a very icy section near a frozen waterfall and per another hiker's advice, chose to follow some footprints going down and around this section to avoid falling. The last part of the trail switchbacks steeply and continues to traverse across a sunbathed slope before heading down to the lake. The lake was frozen and it was obvious that people had been walking on it--something I would not encourage. The lake was surrounding by some beautiful snow-capped peaks and the sun was so warm! Unfortunately I spent the majority of my time at the lake eating thin-mints rather than finding a great spot for pictures...and the ones I took didn't turn out that great because the sun was so bright!
All in all, a long but pretty hike. Unlike some other recent trip reports, there is snow and it is really icy in spots. Poles were nice to have in some sections and microspikes might have been helpful, but in the icy spots, there were also lots of slippery rocks, so it would have required some careful foot placement to ensure that you didn't damage the microspikes. Other than that, I'd recommend wearing layers and getting a very early start in order to get up there and enjoy the lake. I think next time I'll make it a weekend backpack.
Happy trails!
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