Month: October 2020

I like the Twin Falls hike. It is only about 4.5 miles long but there is plenty of elevation gain and the river (South Fork of the Snoqualmie River) and falls both sound and look spectacular.

There are, of course, two waterfalls at Twin Falls, the upper falls and the lower falls. The view above, taken from the first view point on the hike, shows both of them from a distance of about .5 miles.

At 1.3 miles you reach a bridge that crosses the river just above the top of the lower falls. Here is a view looking up and a view looking down:

And, to top it off, there is a nice view point (going down from the trail about 100 steps) of the lower falls:

So whaddya think? Is this a fun hike or what?

I did pretty much my usual conditioning hike on Tiger Mountain today. I did do the extra 1.5 miles that include the Talus Rocks trail, and a mile or so going down on the Tiger 3 trail.

So, about 6 miles, nice, crisp day, a good way to start a Sunday.

Derek and I planned to do a 14-miler up to the summit of Mt. Washington today but 5 year-old Camden wanted to come with dad and Grampy so we downsized our ambitions.

We did the Christmas Lake trail:

Then we were going to do Cedar Butte but right at the start of the trail we ran into multiple large parties so we bailed and just went back to the car, but via the PTC and Sno Valley Trails.

It was about 3.2 miles, not bad for the little guy.

We saw some cool mushrooms growing in a tree but my photo is not very good:

It wasn’t a huge workout for me or for Derek but we had fun!

Perfect hiking weather today, low 50’s, grey but not much rain.

I did the Cedar Butte/Southside Trail/Olallie Trail loop today. Last time I tried this I got off-trail and had a tough time. Today I figured out where I went wrong and it went smoothly.

When I hit Olallie I went right, east, to get in some extra elevation gain and mileage. I turned around at the viewpoint, thus adding about 2.6 miles to the hike. Total today of 8.65 miles.

As always, I love the forest:

And I also love how varied the topography is. Here is a little spot where, just off the trail, the hillside is super-steep and overgrown. Would not be fun to have to bushwhack down this way:

A very nice way to spend a Saturday morning, I was leaving the car to head up the trail at 8 am sharp. The track:

I hiked to Dirty Harry’s Balcony today, about 4.65 miles, 1,200 feet of elevation gain. No big deal, but this place is all about the views.

I did take a very short trip down the Ira Springs Connector Trail – this trail leads to a lot of interesting things, but it is something I hesitate to explore alone. But I did verify its existence and I will keep it in mind.

The track:

Just another relatively mild conditioning hike, up the Squak Mountain Central Peak trail, down the South Access Road – didn’t see many people.

I do like this one little corner, where it is a steep slope down to a stream (not much water at the moment):

Like yesterday, nothing too challenging but a decent workout and, as always, it beats sitting around being depressed about the apocalyptic state of the world.

I did my standard Section Line conditioning hike today.

I am supposedly on jury duty next week so perhaps no hiking. I wanted to get out today, tomorrow, and Sunday so I picked a hike that wouldn’t fry my legs for the weekend.

I passed by Round Lake and thought of Monet’s famous series of haystack paintings. Round Lake changes dramatically throughout the year. Right now it is at its lowest ebb:

Health permitting I want to come back in January, April and July and snap the photo to compare its seasonal journey. For sure, in winter it rains a lot and snows periodically. When the snow melts Round Lake (and its nearby friend Tradition Lake) is a proper little lake. Right now, more of a puddle.

Tiger Mountain does not lack for signage:

No big deal today but a good 4.5 mile outing with the Section Line’s moderate steepness, 600 feet in .8 mile. Beats sitting on the couch.