The road is finally clear to the parking lot. The USFS website recommends high clearance vehicles, but I saw a few compact cars in the parking lot. Just allot some time for the drive up the mountain: It's 8 miles from Highway 20 to the lot and you'll do well to average 15mph. The trail is in good shape. The first mile or so isn't difficult but commands attention. There is a lot of loose rock on the trail and a misstep could result in a fairly nasty tumble. There are patches of snow on the trail near the summit. We traversed them fairly easily with a bit of caution. A bit of scrambling is required to reach the summits but nothing too difficult. Lots of flowers blooming along the trail.

Snow made the access road impassable at 7.1 miles of the 9 mile drive. Serious pot holes the first mile.

What a nice day to finally get out of the city and do some hiking! We arrived around 2:30 pm to find the parking lot full--there were quite a few people on the mountain today. The lake has fully thawed out, but there was quite a bit of snow up there as well, especially after the switchbacks. The cold weather must have sent the bugs down to lower elevations as we didn't see any! Saw quite a bit of wildlife though, including two eagles, a few pika, and a marmot. Made it up to the summit around 3:30 pm and sat up there for quite some time enjoying the awesome view. We could see 3 of the 6 Washington volcanoes today--Mount Baker, Glacier Peak, and Rainier. On the way down, we stopped for a bit to find the geocache hidden nearby. This was definitely a short, but sweet hike!

The wildflowers are out! Hiked up Sunday afternoon, July 20th. The flowers are in bloom from about the third switchback on up. Most of the snow has melted off of the north side of the summit. A good foot path exists through the remaining snow to the rise up to the old lookout site. Trekking poles advised if you are uneasy on snow when the next stop is the lake if you slip. The lake below is about 50% melted out with deep snow still covering part of it. The trail to the lake is not completely melted out yet. Temperatures are cooler this week and the exposed hike did not feel hot at all in the afternoon. I'm not up on all the wildflower names, but there are plenty of them from red on through purple! Grouse can be heard in the trees where the trail switchbacks through them. Trail is in good shape and the road is good enough. Just go slow around the corners if you don't have a high clearance vehicle. The potholes are the worst on the lower section of the road in the Washington State Parks owned land. Guess they don't do roads!

I love this hike. Yes it's short, but every hike does not have to be a half marathon. Some snow on final 1/2 mile of approach road but you can drive all the way to the parking lot. West side switchbacks are snow free but east side of summit ridge has a lot of snow. (See picture) We found the snow soft and the crossing and climb to the location of the old lookout easy enough but do be careful. The views are fabulous in every direction. The trail down to the lake was buried under snow and the lake was starting to break up but still 95% covered. Flowers fair everywhere.