Lovely overnight up to Lena Lake. The trail up was in great shape, only one place had a bit of mud. Plenty of campsites available, quite a few with room even on a Saturday night. Sound at night is definitely amplified, we could hear groups across the lake. People were having a great time! :) Lots of fish jumping and quite a few people out with their fishing poles.

A couple noteworthy things - posted signs for no campfires were up at every campsite cluster, we still noticed a group across the lake with a fire..

The Lena lake toilet is not functioning currently which means you have to hike up the hill to go. There is a lot of toilet paper spread around back there, even noticed a tampon wrapper.. please please either bury your TP all the way - 6-8inches at least - or just pack it out. Quite a bit of trash at the campsite we stayed at, too.

Had no trouble finding a parking spot on Friday around 3pm, and arrived at Lower Lena Lake within an hour and a half. As others have written, this section of the trail is wide, smooth, and gently graded. 
When the trail splits off toward Upper Lena Lake, it narrows and sporadic sections are more rooty, rocky, or muddy, but the grade remains moderate until the first stream crossing. From then on, the trail steepens significantly and presents more obstacles (downed trees, creek crossings, etc). You may find yourself climbing up a stream bed or looking up at a ladder of roots, wondering if this is really the trail. Sure is! I was glad to be doing this section later in the day, once the sun was lower in the sky. Plenty of water sources available, and wildflowers in bloom, especially after the second stream.

Bugs are out in full force, increasing with the elevation gain. I saw two other people camping at the lake, and wondered what had happened to everyone else who’d reserved a permit… please cancel if your plans change, so the sites can be open to others. Gorgeous mountain reflections in the lake, and unbelievably bright stars after dark. 

After exploring the area on Saturday morning - anyone know anything about Scout Lake? - I began my descent. Poles were helpful. Stopped at Lena Lake for an incredibly refreshing swim. 

What a nice trail. Great view the force is strong with this lake.

Crowd - Despite there being 20+ cars at the trailhead I only ran encountered a group every 30+ minutes or so.

Road - paved all the way to trailhead with a few nasty divots

Dogs- All the streams are dried up for the first 2 miles so bring plenty of water for your fir friend.

Berries - almost ripe trailing black berry, thimble berry, salal, Oregon grape, and red huckleberry.

Heat - The first 2.5 miles of this hike we’re hotter then the trailhead but soon the temperature drops about 5 degrees as you get closer to lower Lena.

Sights - 1-2 view points along the way of nearby hills. There is a spot along the trail where you can hear waterfall but can’t see it. Then you cross this dried up stream bed with massive boulders. It seems like a landslide buried that part of the stream underground and you are crossing over it but I’m not sure and am super curious.

Trail - long low grade switchbacks. Few spots of loose gravel or rocky terrain but for the most part dirt.

Lake- gorgeous! Cold - dip in if you hike on a hot day.

We took 2 of the nephews for a hike to Lena lake and they loved it! One is 12 and one is 9. The rocks/roots exposed on the trail did pose a slight challenge for them as they tripped/rolled their ankles a few times especially because the dirt on the trail was so dry/loose, but they insisted on running parts of the trail because they were so excited. We got to the parking lot around 1pm on a Sunday and there were a handful of spaces. It took us about an hour and a half, maybe 2 hours to get to the lake from the parking lot and we hung out and swam at the northern end of the lake. On our way there, we passed by tons of groups leaving so the lake itself was relatively empty for a Sunday afternoon which was great! The biting flies were out and took a couple bites at us, but other than that, there were no bug issues and no need for bug spray! The hike back down took us about an hour, but not much to report there :)