I really enjoyed discovering this hike last year, and revisiting this year didn't disappoint! I was surprised that there were only a handful of cars in the Sno-Park around 8AM when I arrived - I'm used to the line being much, much longer. There is some pretty thick ice in the beginning parts of the Sno-Park, which made it difficult to traverse (both by car and by foot) but thankfully only covered part of the road, so totally doable as long as you take your time.
The gentle grade on this trail makes the miles pass quickly, which is helpful since there's not a ton of sights until the end. Didn't bother with snowshoes or microspikes - the forest road is so compact that boots + poles worked just fine for me. However, I didn't make it too close to the lakes since snowshoes would have come in handy there. The viewpoint is great though - clouds covered the lake, but got a beautiful view of the ranges + Mt Rainier!
Since I didn't explore much around the lakes, I clocked 8.22 mi with near 2,000 ft elevation gain. The Sno-Park was definitely packed (with plenty of cars coming and going and sliding on ice) by the time I was heading home around noon.
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