This was a great little trail. Gorgeous views at the top, not too long and the little scramble at the top to make it interesting.

FYI, the trail marker sign is not visible from the road. You’ll see where the PCT crosses the forest road just beyond where this trail is. There is a clear opening in the trees on the right side of the road driving up, and space along the left hand side for a couple of cars to pull off and others to park along the shoulder. If you make it all the way to the PCT folks, you’ve gone past it but only by a minute or two.

There was some snow on the trail and we used our microspikes for about half the way up and down. I appreciated the extra traction, especially for my partner who had our 1 year old in a hiking pack but I saw others who did it without them.

Parked in the backroad at around 10:30am. There was a bit of parking, but naturally in a road it was a little limited. There was a freeze warning issued yesterday and it was definitely pretty cold--you could see icy snow along the road and heading immediately into the trail.

The trail was 50% snow and 50% trail for the first mile, and turned into 100% icy snow from there. There was a nice little scramble/climb right before reaching the top--expect to get your hands a little dirty or wet.

It wasn't that difficult getting up but going down I'd recommend using microspikes or trek poles as it can be quite slippery.

Great views of Rainier, underrated trail.

Repeated yesterday's hike to see if I get better views, and it was worth it, the views today were spectacular. Only a couple of peaks were hidden and I got beautiful views both to the north and to the south. To the south, the view included Silver Peak, Abiel Peak, Tinkham Peak, Mount Rainier and Meadow Mountain to the south; barely any clouds. To the north, there were a few clouds but I could clearly see Mount Defiance, Granite Mountain, Chair Peak, Denny Mountain and Snoqualmie Mountain, probably a few more. 

The road was in a good shape and so was the trail (same as yesterday). I was the only one on the trail again (came around 9:05am and left just after noon). It was bit colder today and the trail was bit more frozen, but still didn't require microspikes. Just on the top the last 10-15 feet or so were a bit tricky, but I was too lazy to put the microspikes just for that and it was manageable. Didn't go the chain route but around today, probably a good idea. 

Similar as yesterday, 2.87 miles, 1,136 ft total ascent, and about 1:30 moving time. Took a bit more time on the top today, it was sunny and it was extremely beautiful. But it was colder, winter is certainly coming, it was freezing.

A beautiful day for a hike today with our first snow of the season. Limited views due to clouds but still worth it. Maybe we come back tomorrow and get luckier with the views. 

We were the only car at the trailhead at about 10:40am, and still the only car on the way back at about 12:30am. In other words, we had the hike to ourselves. 

The road was in a good condition, barely any snow and some potholes especially about 6 mins from the trailhead but doable without any issues. 

On the trail, there was maybe 1 inch of snow on the bottom, and up to 4-5 inches on the top, but much of the trail had either thin snow or no snow. No tracks. It wasn't slippery at all, so there was no need for microspikes, mostly either soft snow (near the top) or crumbly chunks on the bottom. Could run most of the way down without a single slip though. 

The views to the north were slightly open, and we could see parts of Chair Peak and Snoqualmie Mountain, but most of the peaks were hidden (we could see the bottom but not the top). Couldn't even see Granite. Maybe 90 degrees around north the views were pretty nice, with the new snow all over. The rest, especially towards south, was covered by clouds from top to bottom but for a few minutes I could see Tinkham. I waited for a bit to see if things are going to improve but it didn't look that way so we turned back. 

A nice, short hike. 2.95 miles, 1,146 feet total ascent, and 1:30 total moving time. On the way up it was easy to stay warm, just had on a sweat shirt, but put the top layer on the way down to avoid getting cold (got bit sweaty on the way up). Our first hike in a while that did not involve any lakes. 

This trail featured a continuous uphill climb, but very doable in my good sneakers. We were blessed with great weather and the view from the top--after using the cable to climb the last 20', was spectacular!  A 360 degree view featuring Mt. Rainier and all the mountains surrounding Snoqualmie Pass.