Trail to Lena Lake was great. WTA was on trail and even removed a few down logs that I had crossed a few weeks ago.

Past the lake, towards base camp, WTA was still hard at work. They cut in a new crossing where a bridge had collapsed. They also added in reflective trail markers. Luckily we didn't need headlamps, but I can imagine those being very helpful for climbers coming down late or heading up very early.

Burned section was awful, and the most buggy section. The trail is overgrown in several places, but trail is managble to find. Be careful of thorny bushes if you climb in shorts, like I do.

The scree section was very hard to follow on the uphill. there's a decent trail in the direct on climber's left that is starting to form. But it's not clear when to cut right for the traverse and I went too high, making for a challenging cross over.

We turned around 1k shy of the summit. The scramble was a little nerve racking for me, and we hit our turnaround time, so I didn't want to push it.

I wanted to visit my friend Rick while he was up on a WTA trail work party in the Olympics.  I have heard of The Brothers approach trail but this was my first visit.  The forest road up from Rt. 101 is in great shape.  I rarely get to drive on a paved road to one of our rural trailheads.  There are two potholes close to the trailhead, and they are outlined in orange paint.  The parking lot was 2/3 full (30 cars) when I arrived in the morning.  The facilities at the trailhead are in good condition with plenty of toilet paper.  

The trail up to Luna Lake is in very good condition.  There were no obstacles on the trail.  The first mile or so is a steady uphill climb up numerous switchbacks.  It is about a 1600' climb and 3 miles to Luna Lake camping area.  I stopped at the first "overlook rock" coming into Lower Luna Lake for a morning snack and enjoyed the view.  

My goal was the WTA work crew camped near Brothers Base Camp usign the Brothers Trail.  The crossing over Luna Creek was OK at this time.  I found the crossing where the trail meets the creek.  There are several small logs placed across the creek, but the structure is not very well supported.  I would NOT cross this creek at high water flow.  Too many strainers and rock undercuts to catch a body from a fall.

The Brothers trail is much more rustic (real estate term for in poor condition).  Please thank the WTA for working on this approach trail for the last several years to make it passable for most hikers that are good at route finding.  There are a number of trees down across the trail but most were easy to walk under or around.  Two of three FS log bridges are no longer functional.  One of the WTA projects was to add better approaches to the creek just downstream from one of the washed out bridges.  The work crew was also addressing a few of the shorter sections of collapsed trail.  Seasonal snow melt and heavy rains are not a good mix with trails up this narrow canyon approach.  

Approximately 1 mile past the Luna Creek crossing the trail was washed out by high water.  The current route goes along the dry stream bed for about 250 yards.  Please follow the colored marking tape left along the path that goes in and out of the dry creek bed about three times.  Once past this section, the trail is narrow but obvious.  

I did not actually make it to the base camp.  I found the work crew about 1.6 up the trail (2.4 miles to the camp).  We had a wonderful lunch together on the trail and then it was time for me to go home.  Although still primitive, please thank those volunteer trail workers who try to keep these access trail open to all.  

Three day trip with a friend and three kids (14, 11, 11) camping at Lena Lake with a side trip up to Brothers Base Camp.

Day One

Hiked in Sunday leaving the trailhead around 1pm.  Trailhead toilets were open and stocked, maybe not the cleanest.  Parking lot was 90% full.  Trail itself was in great repair with no bugs worth remarking.  Met plenty of day hikers and backpackers coming down.  A few red huckleberries going up.  Arriving around 3pm, all of the sites on the west bank were free, and only a few sites on the northeast side of the lake were occupied.  We opted for a large site by the mouth of Lena Creek where the kids could play on the many logs piled up.  Campsite was bug free.  There was quite a bit of trash at the site; we picked up various items including a fishing line/hook/sinker/float and other gems.  

The composting toilet on the west side is out of service.  Some reports note a toilet on the north side, but we never found one.

Side note: the trail to the north side crosses Lena Creek a few hundred yards upstream from the lake.  There are some logs here that you can cross the creek on.  Some hikers were making their way down the south bank to cross at the bigger (and more stable) logs at the mouth of the creek, but frankly it's faster and easier to cross at the trail than to make the detour.

Day Two

We did a day hike up the trail to the Brothers Base Camp (trail 821).  This trail has seen better days - two out of the three bridges washed out and several hundred yards of trail washed out too.  However, while the trail was narrow, rocky, and sometimes a little overgrown, it was never too hard to follow, with special thanks to the pink trail markers that guided hikers through the washed out section.  Many logs fallen, and obviously have been down for years given the side trails circumventing them, but only one posed our group a little difficulty in crossing.  At the remnants of the third bridge, be sure to walk a few yards to the south and cross on the log - much nicer than fording the creek.  No bugs, lots and lots of ripe huckleberries (red and blue) and salmonberries.  Slow going; mostly due to extensive berry consumption.  We met only one other party walking up as we walked out. 

Back at camp we were able to swim in the lake, but it isn't the warmest.  About half the sites appeared to be occupied that evening (Monday), notably the northeast side was most popular - maybe because the sites are more private?

Day Three

Packed up and started hiking out by 9am.  Someone had set up a campsite right where the trail crosses Lena Creek - not an official site by any means and there were plenty of official sites standing empty.  Met three backpacking parties coming up.  Back at the trailhead by 10:30am.  A very pleasant trip, but not one if you are looking for solitude.  We met groups from the UK and Australia along with locals, clearly a well known destination!

Hiked to Climber's Camp on July 10, summited + hiked out on July 11.

Our group did not need ice axe or crampons/microspikes. We did not have to travel on snow, and I was able to do the whole thing in hiking shoes.

Rockfalls were definitely a concern. At one point, our group saw a basketball-sized rock come tumbling down. Luckily Friday was not too busy (3 groups / 8 people including us). On our way out, we saw a lot more people hiking in to Climber's Camp for a Saturday summit attempt. Be safe out there, especially on a busy day.

The creek crossing on the north side of Lena Lake wasn't too bad. There were lots of fallen logs on the trail; none of them were impassable, but annoying to duck under or hop over.

Route-finding was not bad for the most part as the trail was fairly obvious and/or marked with ribbons (thank you WTA). It got a bit trickier above the tree line, but the cairns helped.

On Sunday, July 6th, found somebodies' microspiskes. Answer in comments if it's yours