I did a solo moderate hike today, Twin Falls. The only truly memorable event today was the fact that I investigated a little side trail I had seen many times, always telling myself “some day….” and today was the day.
The Twin Falls trail starts at a trail head accessed from I-90 Exit 34 and ends at what is now the Palouse to Cascades (PTC) trail just west of the Mount Washington trail head, Exit 38.
A few yards east of the Mount Washington trail head is a little trail that goes – where? Many is the time I have seen it and wondered and told myself that I would check it out some day.
Today when I got to the PTC I walked east, just to get a little more mileage in, and as I went past the Mount Washington trail I noticed the mystery trail and headed up.
It was rough, to put it mildly. It was steep, straight up the mountain, and rugged. I had to climb over several huge downed trees. It didn’t go very far, but at the end of the navigable territory was a huge rock. Very interesting rock and I took some photos which, unfortunately, were blurry.
I had to conclude that this trail, like the trail a few yards west of the Mount Washington trail, were created by hikers looking for and not quite finding the Mount Washington trail which is notoriously difficult to notice (I missed it on my first solo hike up Mt. Wa), particularly in the dark.
But the answer to the mystery is: this trail goes nowhere.
I noticed a very pretty section of the forest on the way down:
Just under five miles, about 1,200 ft elevation gain. Here is a Google Earth view of the track:
