What a beautiful NYE day for a hike at Lena Lake! There is one small portion of trail near the lake itself that is quite wet and requires a tiny bit of navigating to avoid soaking toes but otherwise, it is well-maintained and clear the whole way. We saw several other parties on our way up/down but still plenty of room in the parking lot on a sunny weekend day. Capped it off with oysters at Hama Hama - best way to end a year!

To the lower lake:

I was delighted to see that I was the first car in the lot at 7:45 am this morning. Road was fine getting in (paved). I wasn't sure what the trail situation would be given the recent monsoon, but it wasn't bad! No blockages, just wet in some places. (aka small streams are running on the trail, but never enough to make you dramatically wet.) There is one larger stream crossing closer to the lake, but that also posed no problem. No snow. Many mushrooms still popping up, which made for slow going (mycologist here :)). 

To the upper lake:

I knew I probably wouldn't make it all the way to the upper lake, and unfortunately, I was right. After leaving lower Lena Lake, the trail gets more rocky and difficult. There were a couple blowdowns to climb over. Longer stretches of the trail were covered with small streams. But I happily pressed on, reveling in the quiet, magical forest. This came to an abrupt halt at the big stream crossing at around 2630 ft. Sadly, the giant log was coated in ice, and I couldn't even climb up it without slipping. The stream was raging, and there was no other way across. I suppose in hindsight, if I had been able to somehow get up, I could have scooted across on my butt. But oh well...It was getting late anyway. I turned around and went back. Still some nice views to be had, and the sun was trying to peek out.

I saw 7 people all day. Incredible!! I have never seen this place so dead. Love it!

Lower Lena Lake is absolutely beautiful. However, do be aware that roughly 40% of the trail is covered in an inch to 5 inches of stream water. There is a specific section at roughly 1850 feet elevation, right before you reach the lake campground, where there is a pretty difficult stream crossing on the trail roughly 15 feet wide, which had depths exceeding a foot in a couple places. See the red circle on my GPS data attached to this report for the exact location. My girlfriend, dog, and I managed to ford the stream, with my girlfriend and I staying mostly dry by wearing knee high gaiters, rain pants, and waterproof boots. Trekking poles were a must for that particular section, in my opinion. I would personally NOT attempt to cross that section again without good knee high gaiters and waterproof boots at a minimum. Water levels for most streams were pretty high. No fish caught at the lake. We did see what we believe were two Columbian black-tailed deer, however. Overall an awesome hike that provided more challenges than anticipated - glad we came prepared "just in case"!

Steady climb with switchbacks. Normal roots and rocks. Well maintained. Beautiful day, plenty of parking at 9:30.

We were the 6th car in the parking lot when we arrived at 10:00 AM. The sun was shining after driving thru some pretty heavy fog on the way to the trail.  The first mile was covered in leaves that had fallen from the trees. There is still a bit of color (although faded) on some of the trees which was beautiful. The mossy rocks and ferns are very green and they just sparkle with the sun hitting them. The lake was very high and there were several logs floating in the middle of the lake and on the end which was different than any other time I’ve been here. We sat in the sun on the big rock for a while then headed back down. Not very crowded at all today. As we got to the parking lot the fog had rolled in. I guess we got lucky and hit the trail at the right time today.