The trail up to Lower Lena lake is incredibly green with lots of ferns, moss, and other undergrowth. This trail is great for kids or those not super adept at hiking that want to see a really pretty lake, and there are no real water crossings up to the lower lake. No snow, warm weather, and I even got a few bites on the fishing pole. There are 29 campsites located around the North and West side of the lower lake that have fire rings, and most of them were filled. There were some people with paddles that were using large pieces of driftwood as small canoes as well. There are 2 branches you can take from the lower trail. One heads northwest to Upper Lena Lake and the other heads northeast to The Brothers. The morning after we camped at the lower lake we decided to try out the Upper Lena Lake fork. This trail is similar to the lower lake trail except a little steeper and a little more rustic, at times very muddy and root-strewn. There is one major blowdown about 3/4 mile from the lower lake that was tough to crawl over with our packs, but beyond that the first mile and a half are fine. Then the snow became a problem. There is a LOT of snow as the trail gets near the creek, and most of it was pretty unstable. We were postholing pretty often and started skinning up our legs a bit. Also it became difficult to stay on the trail since it is in fairly dense woods. We were probably around 2 miles above the lower lake when we decided to turn around and head back. This trail needs a little more time, maybe a month, to thaw out. Our plan is to wait later in the season and do both the Upper lake and the Brothers in a long weekend trip.

The Brothers have called to me from across the sound for years. I've even had the idealistic notion that my brother and I would do the peak together. Well a last minute cancelation and a quick, lucky phone call had me heading across the Kingston ferry late Saturday morning. Once we found the Lena Lake trailhead we were off! The trail to the lake is dusty and dry. Tons of day hikers beat it's too-long switchbacks into oblivion. The lake was unremarkable except for the incestant yapping of somebody's little dog that was damn close to having a tragic accident. The well marked trail to the Brothers immediately turns a little worse for the wear. I enjoed it's unkempt nature but there was a fair amount of windfall and storm damage. The trail was gorgeous as it winds thru the Valley of Silent Men. Our camp was on snow at around 3000'. A well trodden trail thru snow follows the stream out to the coulior and then to the summit. Snow in the morning is still quite firm so crampons or good snow skills are required. By 10am the sun is on the slopes and it is a big sloppy, fun slide down. We came upon two mountain goats near the summit.

Our leaders decided to check out the trail to Upper Lena Lake, first stopping at the huge rock overlooking lower Lena Lake for a snack & to watch the early fish activity. We didn't check out the campground area but continued on the upper trail #811, and noticed that a number of large blow-downs had been cleared, (thanks guys) those remaining were easy to hop over or go around. We were surprised how muggy it became, great for the plant life beginning to show, no bugs yet. We encountered patchy snow in area of the park boundary, increasing to 3 feet deep about 4 ½ miles in, around 2750 feet or so. Given the melt, it soon became way too easy to break through the snow crust without warning, so we settled for lunch and then headed back. We met a few hikers along the way and a couple of happy backpackers making the most of their extended weekend. Good leg stretching hike with great company. Map: GT 168 The Brothers

The sun was glorious on this unusually dry Memorial Weekend. Our group headed to Lower Lena lake to enjoy a snowfree early season hike. When we reached the trailhead at around 11:30, the parking area was already overflowing. Despite the large number of cars, foot traffic going up was fairly light. The trail is in excellent condition and shows signs of recent maintenance efforts. After about and hour and 30 minutes we reached a rock outcropping suitable for a picnic with a fantastic view of the lake. My friends indulged in oysters with fancy cheese while I consumed my oh so elegant PB&J. After lunch my companions continued along the trail to go down to the lakeshore while my pup and I stayed on the now empty rock outcropping and enjoyed soaking up some much needed solar Vitamin D. Since we needed to catch the ferry back to Seattle, our visit to the lake was far too short. We started heading back in the early afternoon and were shocked by the huge numbers of backpackers heading up to the lake. There were families, climbers, and a youth group that had to have more than a dozen packers in it. Where they thought they were going to camp was a mystery to us since all of the sites had been filled long before we had even reached the lake. Despite the mobs on the trail as we headed back down, the trip was wonderful and a great way to kick-off the season.

We went up to Lena Lake for the Friday through Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. The trail up to Lena lake was well maintained, clear of any snow, and it was a very enjoyable hike carrying 30-50 lbs of gear each. Once at Lena Lake, the trail proved to be less maintained then on the way up. There was a blow-down tree across the trail between the first set of campsites (which were not very well marked) and the path taking you up to Upper Lena Lake. Also, you had to deal with some water (1-2 feet depending on the time of day) while getting to and across the bridge that takes you to the other side of the lake where there is the rest of the campsites and the trail to The Brothers (#821). The brothers trail had many blow-down trees across it and there was snow on and off over much of the 3 miles of the ""maintained"" trail. Neither snow shoes or crampons were needed for the trail, but that is only for the trail b/c we did not summit the mountain. However, the snow was a little unstable in places and there is a chance for injury if you are not careful. All-in-all it was a very nice hike up to the base camp, but it took a little longer then we anticipated due to the snow, blow-downs, and having to find trail markers through the blow downs. We met several people who did summit the brothers and they didn't seem to have any problems going to the summit of the south peak.