We set out to hike up to lower lena lake on this cold and wet day. Getting to the trail head was a bit of a challenge. We counted about 30 blow downs on the Hamma Hamma road. Each blow down was cleared only enough to open up one lane of the road. Driving to the trail head involved constantly changing lanes to drive around each blow down. I had to run over some rather large piles of branches and it was a bit dicey to run over such things in my little ground hugging station wagon, but I can say that the road is passable in a passenger car. There is some patchy snow near the trail head. Access to Putvin trail is blocked by downed trees, basically only the Hamma Hamma road is clear, all the side roads going off it are blocked by downed trees. There was a sign near the Lake that said the brothers trail is closed due to a forest fire. The Lower Lena Lake trail is in pretty good shape considering all the recent wind and rain. We counted 21 blow downs between the trail head and lunch rock. Most of the blow downs were small enough to step over. We had to crawl under two of them and walk around some of them. There is a large multiple tree blow down about 1/2 mile before the lake that obliterates 30 feet of the trail. Closer to the trail head a tree has fallen onto and broken a wooden hand rail. We encountered patches of melting out snow on the trail 1/4 of a mile from the lake. The lake does not have any ice on it but there is some snow on the surrounding hillsides.

With the intention to climb South Brother in 2 days, the plan suddenly switched to a 1 day attempt. Drove down Friday night, camped near the trailhead, and started up the well maintained Lena Lake Trail at 0730 Sat AM. Refilled our water bottles at the Lake and headed up the Creek trail. About 3/4 of this trail is well-marked but there are quite a few nasty blowdowns and trail obliterations (especially in the dark on the way down). I imagine this trail would be difficult in places with a full backpack. After leaving the campsite we started up the bootpath for the snowfields. A steep and rough scramble lead us to the hourglass. There is still enough snow to avoid scrambling over the rock, scree, and talus although there are a few holes showing. It's hard to believe that it's only 1 mile from the campsite to the summit....I beg to differ with the quidebook. It took 4 hours to the summit from camp. Stay ""right"" to locate the true summit...there are several gullies to choose. We were within 10 feet from a mountain goat and followed it's tracks though much of the snow. The views (along with the snow ascent) were breathtaking all the way up. We reached the summit at 5 and started down after taking some pictures. The snow was too steep to glissade safely in places......very steep....so we plunge-stepped down trying to avoid the rock. We made it back to the well marked trail by 9:30 and out by headlamp at midnight. We were impressed with our accomplishment and would truly recommend this as a 2 day journey.

Arrived at the trail head around 1:30 to find only a few cars and prefect weather for a hike. Finshed packing some last minute things and off we went. I took my new camping partner with me, Fisher (my dog). We set off at a pretty good pace. The trail was in good shape, but it never seems to quit going up. Sometimes more gradually then others but it was still up. We saw about a dozen other people during the course of the afternoon, most of them day hikers. There are a couple of blow downs toward the top of the trail. All of the blow downs are pretty easy to navigate but use some caution. There is some water along the trail but I would not depend on it. There is a creek in which you can hear but only see a glimpse of occasionaly and a couple of small run offs from springs. The best area to get water on the trail is in a creek at the top after the second bridge. From here you are only about fifteen minutes from the lake. We arrived at the lake about 3:30 or 4:00. Upon Fishers arrival he made his almighty splash into the lake where he swam and stood cooling down. We seached out a suitable camp site with good water access. Fish swam for awhile chasing and crawling on some floating logs. After awhile we decided not to stay and packed up and went home. After we had set up the tent. We made it back down in pretty good time. Nice hike, once at the lake head to the end and stay in the breeze to avoid the bugs. Have fun and enjoy.

Trail to Lower Lena Lake is in great condition. From there the trail to Upper Lena Lake is anything but great - headed up this trail only a short distance and found it wet and muddy with numerous blow-downs. Turned back at a huge blow-down. The views around the lake were clouded when I was there - but the lake drew several large crowds of hikers.

With other plans originally in the Cascades, and the weather looking rather frightful there we headed west. Hit the trail about 3pm on Friday night, trekking to Lower Lena Lake with some friends that were off to see Bretheren - we parted and headed for the Valley of the Silent Men. A few blowdowns on the trail as others said - got to the regular climbers campsite and enjoyed a relaxing evening. Up and out of camp by six, reaching a little snow in a dry creekbed of the first basin leading to the trail through the woods. The gully on the other side was full of snow and we put on crampons which helped us reach the top by 8:45. Only took our crampons off once to get around the lunch counter to below the hourglass, putting them back on for the top. And yes, go right young man, go right! As we reached the top clouds started to come down, taking away the limited view we had internal to the Olypmics. On down using our crampons - til we hit the lunch counter where we took them off. Glissaded much of the rest of the way (some deep holes are showing) running into four others on their way up. Hit camp about 11am when it started raining. Did so for much of our way out - back at the car by 3pm and home in Seattle to catch most of the first period of the Stanley Cup Sixth Game. Now that's a near perfect day outdoors.