Contrary to the Nov. 8 report, today both the road and the trail were fully covered in snow, up to 10 inches at times. Road navigable with 4WD/AWD. We made it up in an AWD CR-V but got stuck once on the way up and had to dig tires out again after returning to the trailhead. It looked like we might’ve been the first car up the road and were definitely the first hikers on the trail post-snowfall today. Trail was fully covered in snow, navigable but cold in boots and trail runners and with a trekking pole each. Gaiters and/or microspikes could make things easier, but just boots were also fine if you don’t mind cold ankles. Low/no wind and soft powder made the trail safe for footing. Cable at the top is unattached. We found it easier to ascend up the right and descend down the cabled path on the left.

The road to the trailhead is snow free and the trail just has a dusting for most of it. A bit more compacted at the top. I was happy in trail runners and other people were happy with mocrospikes. Beautiful day for a hike!

This is a great trail! It's a bit steep, but not too bad. When we went, there was only a light dusting of snow on the second half of the trail. The small scramble up at the top was slippery, and micro spikes would have been helpful for that section. I didn't use mine, but I was just extra careful and did a graceful butt-slide down from the peak.

Ruff! This is a great hike with a steady elevation gain, well-maintained trail, and lovely views (we tried to wait patiently for the clouds to disperse at the top but that never really happened today).

The trail: On the day we hiked, there was a mini-stream overtaking the trail for about a two hundred meter stretch not far from the trailhead. Not problematic, but maman was glad she wore her hiking boots rather than her Merrills - her feet stayed bone dry (mine? not so much!).  A light dusting of snow starts about halfway (.75 mi)  in, fortunately it was fresh and not slick but that could change. Towards the top it gets deeper (maybe 3-4 inches at it's deepest, but that was only for a short stint), and our poles were handy (didn't need the microspikes just yet). As others have mentioned, there is a cable right before the final push which is quite handy, especially considering it's snow covered and slick.

We were the first ones to the trailhead at 10:30am on a Friday, but two groups arrived at that top after we dawdled for about 45 min. Clocked 3 miles exactly using GAIA (having the trail outlined is useful towards the top when - amidst the snow - it's a little more challenging to find the trail at times). Took us just over two hours including nearly an hour at the top to soak up the views.

Happy hiking! 

This is a short hike with great views, elevation gain was gradual and very few people on trail. Snow is very passable in some patches and we put our microspikes/yaktrax on only to take them off. The last 0.1mi probably needed spikes as there is some snow/ice and is slippery. Great views of mount Rainier and lake below. We only encountered a handful of people and clocked 2.3 hours on our Garmin.