Beautiful, short hike for some gorgeous views. Met an old timer up top who said he climbs this trail about once a week, and he declared this Sunday the best view he's ever seen from the north viewpoint.
The hike itself was icy in significant patches, starting pretty soon after the trailhead. Thanks to a recent trip report here, I brought spikes, although my companion did not. He's an experienced hiker, but he was very close to turning back less than half the way up, due to lack of traction—even though he had good hiking boots and poles. So at least under current conditions, I would highly recommend traction devices of some sort. With the aid of mine (nothing fancy), I rarely struggled for a good footing.
The hike is pretty steep: 10-20% grade, as advertised, and it's steady: not a lot of flat patches to give you a breather. Moderate, overall, especially with poles and good traction on your feet.
Once you reach the north viewpoint and soak in fabulous views of the Olympics in one direction and Rainier in the other (be advised that the viewpoint area itself is fairly confined, so you're likely to be sharing it with others), take the stroll over to the south viewpoint. This is a very easy walk over compacted snow from previous hikers, and no ice this weekend.
On this clear day, the south viewpoint offered a spectacular vista encompassing Hood Canal below and Mounts Rainier, Adams and St. Helens in the distance. (The north view was better, though, in my opinion, with a closer view of the jagged, snow covered peaks of Constance and its sisters).
The trail and viewpoints had a fair number of people, no doubt thanks to the gorgeous weather. At least this day, this was not the trail to find quiet, contemplative solitude.
Largely because my friend didn't have spikes, we took the road down, which was definitely gradual and would make for a much easier, if less interesting, hike up, if that's more your speed. I think you could go up and down the snow-covered road pretty easily without spikes, if so inclined, but it was relatively boring and went on for a long time (twice the distance of the trail). There's a good snow-packed trail within the roadbed to follow.
I'd recommend this as a winter half-day hike. I imagine the presence of cars at the top when the road is open would detract significantly from the experience.
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