The trail to Lena lake is wonderfully well maintained and in very good condition. The campsites dotting the lake's northern shore were abundant, well situated, and all around nice. If you are planning a trip to Lena lake I highly recommend allowing an extra couple of hours to continue up on the Brothers trail through the Valley of the Silent Men. The size of the trees and lushness of foliage is other-worldly. This trail, though a little more rugged than the one up to Lena Lake, is also in nice condition, and the grade is quite easy. There is basically no snow left on the route to the summit. The trip took 7.5 hours RT from the climbers camp - 4 hours up and 3.5 hours down. There was quite a bit of minor bouldering and steep loose rock along the way which made the going up tedius, and the down-climb even more so. Our party agreed that a rope should have been brought along. Water is still easliy available up to about 1/4 of the way from the top (about 15 min above lunch rock). The wildflowers were abundant (and such a wide array!), the views outstanding, and the fearless goats made for a bit of extra excitement. Bring bug cream and watch for sliding rocks from those above you. I wore and would recommend a helmet.

We camped at Lena Creek again this weekend. Lena Creek was not my first choice for camping but it was Father’s day weekend so I went without to much complaint. The road to the other nearby trails is still washed out; my only real choice was to go up the Lower Lena Lake trail again. . I hiked to Lower Lena Lake last week so this week I wanted to go further. I walked from my campsite at Lena Creek and arrived at the trail head at 10am. It was raining so the trail was not quite as crowded as usual. I leap fogged with a group of girl scouts for half of the hike then they kindly let me pass them at Lunch Rock. It only took me 1 hour and fifteen minutes to make it to the rock. After leaving the rock the trail passes by shoreline campsites. Most of the campsites were filled and the folks up there seemed to be camped very comfortably. The camps up there looked more comfortable than our car campsite down below. I would have pitched a tarp over our table so we could sit outside at the table and stay dry. But our table was covered with dirt and mud thanks to the antics of my 5 year-old. There so there was no point in pitching a tarp over the muddy wet table. I arrived at the Brother’s climbing camp at about 2:30. The rain never let up for the entire hike up but it really started falling when I got to the camp. By this point I was also pretty tired and I was getting clumsy and a little disoriented. I lost the trail so I headed back toward a tent I saw in the campground and found backpackers outside the tent. They had just finished climbing The Brothers and they reported that the route finding was hard and the way was covered with snow near the top. They also pointed me in the right direction. The trail turns left at the campground and follows a tributary up. I followed the trail about 1/10 of a mile past the campground just so I could see something new. I had hiked up to the campground in the past so I wanted to go just a bit further. But I did not go far because the trail started getting steep and I was getting tired. I walked back down to my car camp in the rain, taking a few breaks to ease the random aches and pains I was having and to take some pictures. I did not take any pictures on the hike up because my camera is not water proof and I had hoped the rain would stop by the time I headed down. When I arrived back at the Lower Lena Lake trail head I found the ranger writing parking tickets and I could hear an awful howling noise coming from the campground. I finished my hike at 6:45 and I rested up for about an hour before heading back up the trail with my family. We made it to the second switchback before my husband got exhausted and called it quits. 14.4 miles 2400 feet elevation gain More details and pictures on my blog: http://mosswalks.blogspot.com

There were over 100 cars at the TH when we arrived, but the trail never seemed crowded as we were hiking. We were passed by many climbers who were going to climb the Brothers on Sunday. Flowers seen on the lower trail were: 1 spotted coral root, Rhododendrons, star flowers, twinflowers, bear grass and Canadian Dogwood. We hiked about a mile on the trail to Upper Lena Lake. Only a few yards from the start of the trail to the upper lake we found some areas with wild ginger blooming. There were a few trees to be stepped over on the upper trail--probably 2 feet in diameter. After turning around we took the old trail to the bridge across Lena Creek where we had a late lunch beside the creek.

I followed the Lena Lake / Brothers trail to the end expecting to see the Brothers mountain across the valley…and never did see the mountain or an open valley. From Lena lake you follow a dry creek bed for about a mile, then a roaring creek for the next 3 miles .. all in a deep woods. You cross the creek 3 times on balance-beam bridges and hike up root/rocky stream beds until you reach the end of the trail at a junction of 2 creeks and a large campsite. From there, I did not see any maintained trail to follow. I waded across the creek and walked 15 minutes up each creek and didn’t see any obvious path..and since I was alone, decided to have lunch and return. On the way out, I met 2 people at Lena Lake on the way in who said they went up the Brothers Mtn a few years ago and took the left fork at the end of the trail. After about ½ hour you are at the base of the mountain and then it’s all up. Don’t think I’ll return again, but got lots of exercise with about 15 miles RT and 2500’.

This was a nice day hike on a Friday morning and not crowded with only two other cars at the trailhead to start with. There are 14 switchbacks below the bridge and three switchbacks above the bridge. The outflow creek under the bridge was dry. At the lake, we wondered who cut all the bushes and small trees on the promontory next to the Boy Scout memorial below the composting toilet. Was that an act of vandalism to maintain the view? Or does the Forest Service have a new plan for the area? We hiked to the end of the campsites where the trail to The Brothers starts and then we turned around. Hardly any hiking books mention the old trail to Upper Lena Lake that branches off before one crosses the footlog at the inflow to Lena Lake (although it is shown on topo maps). It briefly follows Lena Creek (very scenic) and then joins the new trail after ~0.2 mi. At the moment, the old trail has less blowdowns than the new trail. When we hiked out on Friday afternoon, a stampede of backpackers moved in for the 3-day weekend, in addition to dozens of dayhikers. This place is very popular on a weekend. EckartS