Nice, unmuddy 3 mile trail to lower lake with many campsites. Only attacked by one unleased dog - note that at start of the trail, a forest service sign says that a hiker was bitten recently and that all dogs need to be leashed .. please! We started hiking to the upper lake but ran out of time (and energy). Trail register only indicated people going to the lower lake. Lot of work being done on trail to stop people from taking short cuts ... wood/logs being stacked makes it look they'll be building rails along some secions of the trail. Will definitely return again .. to see the upper lake.

As Slugman stated this hike doesn't take too long, but it is a great place to go. When we drove up the Hamma Hamma Road, we got tantilizing glimpses of snow-coated peaks to the west, steep and rugged. Sunshine and blue skies greeted us at the trailhead; we had managed to find a window between storms and enjoyable weather. The trail begins climbing immediately, winding up the wooded slope in a series of shallow switchbacks. Then it traverses towards Lena Creek, gently climbing all the while. The creek was full of water thundering, white billows crashing over the mossy rocks on its way to the river below. And the lake was filled to overflowing. Some of the lower campsites were submerged under the chilly green waters, which were backed up into the inlet stream almost to the bridge. We enjoyed a lunch break on sunny Big Rock, getting almost toasty in the spring sunshine. While we met backpackers on the way out, there were only a few other people at the lake beside our Mountaineer group. The trail, kind of a super highway, was in excellent condition, but there was some water flowing over and down small areas. The amount of percipitation in the last couple of weeks has overcome the ability of the topsoil to take any more moisture. What's left is filling streams, leaking out of the ground and plunging down slopes. There was one tree over the trail leading to the bridge and onto the Valley of the Silent Men. Despite the quantity of water the trail tends to be rocky and thence little mud was encountered. Leave the gaiters in the car unless you're going higher towards Upper Lena.

I had business in Olympia until 10 am, so I decided to detour a little on the way back to Lynnwood and do a short hike in the Olympic National Forest. The trail to Lena Lake is snow-free and in perfect condition, not so much as a stick in the trail. The only annoying thing is the switchbacks which gain only 400 ft per mile, the shallowest grade I've ever seen. They do make the walking easy on the descent. My favorite part of this hike is the place where the trail crosses Lena Creek, but the creek is underground. There are massive, moss-covered boulders in crazy profusion, and a big bridge over a dry channel, and the sound of a rushing river, but no water to be seen. I spent two hours at the lake having a picnic while low clouds sauntered through the valley. There were sun breaks and a few short showers. It took me 2 1/2 hours to reach the lake (typical slug speed), 1 3/4 hours back. 6 miles total, 1,200 vertical feet. There was only one other party on this trail today.

For a weekend that saw rain on the way, we decided to make the most of it and hike a trail that was popular for the Olympics. We ended up getting more than we ever hoped for. The day started off with more fog than we wanted but when you arrive at 11:00 in the morning the last thing you expect to see is fog. The trail itself is in terrific shape. If the WTA has been working here it wouldn't have surprised me. The trail to Lower Lena Lake is amazingly clear of debris because when you look at either side of the trail you see nothing but blown down logs and branches from the previous week of wind and rain. The trail was a nice warm up for both my fiance and myself since neither of us had done any recent hiking. The elevation gain is minimal compared to steep hikes like Wolf Creek Trail on Hurricane Ridge. The distance is pefect for a mid-morning hike with a lunch at the lake and nothing to view but the lake and the surrounding peaks. There is no snow to speak of on the trail, and is only in small places near the lake. However, we did not continue on the trail to the upper lake and could definitely have some snow.

Following optimistic reports that The Brothers can be scrambled in one day, we succeeded in our attempt, but it accounted for one looong day. This always seems to happen whenever our guest flies into town with limited time, making for time compression. Outside of some inaccurate reports, the hints were there that this might be a one-day ""death march"". The next trip will have us camping at either Lena Lake or 6 mile camp up the East Fork, which was nice and quiet. This would probably be especially wise for those not having done the route before. We were in good shape for this scramble, but it turned out to be like giving birth to an elephant: it comes with alot of kicking and screaming, and takes one hellava long time. We car camped at the nice clean and quiet Lena Lakes Campground across from trailhead, and breakfasted in dark in preparation for 6:30am departure. We packed light(about 20lbs.each, 11/2 liters of water), cached about 1/3 of it, including parkas and raingear at gully(4100'), and it still took til early afternoon to summit. For all its positive qualities, the 75 Scrambles/Goldman book miscalculates the mileage by 2.5-3.0 miles round trip(book shows 14 mile rd trip). Note on Green Trails and USGS maps, the trail to ""Six mile Camp"" amounts to 6.2 miles. Mileage to the gully turn is a rigorous 1.3 miles, and the 2,700' ascent covers about 1.0 miles, for a rd trip closer to 17 miles. This additional mileage turned out to be an important factor in having us dig out our headlamps before the moon came out. As for trip info, #810 is a beautiful maintained trail, and trail #821 to 6 mile camp while less maintained, is easy to follow: some recent brush cutbacks and gravel work having been done too. It took us only 2hrs, 40 minutes to go the 6.2 miles. The climbers trail to the gully turn is rugged and steep in woody conditions, but well tagged. Last obvious water to find is above gully about 150 yards. The route reports were pretty accurate, and cairns in places help a little. There are some obvious boot paths in places, but some take off for nowhere. Our advice is once within 1/4 mile of summit, start traversing the scree/talus field to right side. The actual summit is round, and on right of the ""tooth"" shaped rock. While clouds blocked some of the views, they were super when briefly opened up. Also, what consumes the most time are the scree fields, gullies with some class 4 moves, loose rock, and rapid elevation gain. Safe down climbing can take time as well, however, the rock is some of best we've experienced.