It's been 30 years since I was blown off ""The Brothers"" so I decided that we would try for the summit on Fathers day. We arrived at the trailhead on Saturday. The first 3 miles to lower Lena lake were a breeze. Trail's in excellent shape. The final 3 miles up the east fork of Lena creek to climbers camp were in pretty fair shape as well. A few blow downs but not too bad. No snow in the area and the creek is running fast. We were lucky to find a camp just as 2 guys were packing up and heading home. Julie (AKA: J-Girl) and ""Joe-Dog"" stayed in camp while Josh and I set off at 0645 Sunday to climb the mountain. Route was easy to follow and we didn't hit serious snow until about 4800 feet. A party a head of us had kicked steps up through the snow couloir so the going was pretty easy but fairly steep. We had climbing gear so it was no problem. We deviated a little bit up near the summit pyramid. We climbed the short SW ridge which was very exposed but easy class 4 scrambling. I'm glad we had a rope. Saw 1 mountain goat near the summit, very cool! Views on top were magnificent. 4 hours up, 2 hours down to climbers camp. Then the long 6 mile hike out. We saw several guys doing this entire trip in one day....BRUTAL!

Left Olympia late for a bit of exercise on this bright sunny morn. Was even in the 80s in the Seattle area this day! Headed up the trail at 9:30 with four other cars in lot. Trail up the annoyingly level switchbacks to Lena Lk was nearly waterless. Only a couple of blowdowns on upper parts of that stretch. Some more blowdowns to navigate from Lena Lk up and lots of water available. Reached snow at about 3800,' ran out of time, and descended without reaching upper Lena. Great workout. Great day... no bugs yet.

Friday evening we did a quick backpack up to to Lower Lena Lake, the trails is basically dry as tinder now. Almost no running water. Camped on the far side. Most of the group went up The Brother's trail in the morning on saturday. The stream crossings are dicey, one bridge has a tree across it that you have to climb under. Some trail erosion up there, and lots of avalanche debri. They made it to the headwall of The Brothers. Cool snow caves though up there. Be prepared for bushwacking, trail finding and stream crossings on the upper section.

Went car camping at Hamma Hamma Campsite with day hike to Lower Lena Lake. My old school buddy and four other friends hiked up to Lower Lena Lake with me. The trail is in good shape. Only had to climb over two blow-downs. Weather was cloudy with off and on rain, but not soaking. Saw several Rhododendrums in bloom. Lake was high and snow free. Snow was reported to be at the top of the ridge toward upper Lena Lake. Nice early season hike. Flicker

Hit the trail at about 8:00 a.m. on saturday. The trail to lower Lena is in good shape. There was quite abit of water on the trail due to the rains we've been having. Took a break at Lena lake, then continued on to the brothers base camp. I packed my snowshoes but did not need them. There are a few blowdowns on the brothers trail. Some of them small, others are tricky with a heavy pack. I was treated with a great hike up the valley of silent men because there was water flowing all the way down the creek bed into lena lake witch is very rare. It was a great weekend to be in the mountains, but then again, there is never a bad time to be in the mountains. As long as you are prepared. There are a couple of wash outs on the trail that are easy to get around.