IT was a beautiful clear day in mid OCTOBER. Being my birthday I had to call my BOEING friend to take the day off. Great and quick hike up to the lake. A little bit muddy at areas by the lake and just past the lake towards the Gem Lake trail. My ninja buddy and I stopped on the Log bridge over the outlet to engage in a quick NINJA fight. Well worth the trip just for that picture. Great day hike during the week but would definitely steer away this weekend cuz Iam sure everyone and their grannies will be out. -Ninja # 1 :td

This is a trail to avoid in the summer if you dislike crowds, but makes a nice fall hike.

Charlene and I took off on an imprompt Saturday hike hoping to find decent weather. We found fluffy clouds lingering around the mountaintops and beautiful blue holes. Autumn oranges, reds and yellows provided colorful accents against the dark green mountain hemlocks and gray granite walls.

We found Snow Lake gleaming in the autumn sunlight. Along the lakeshore there were flowers still blooming, including beargrasses, asters, desert parsley, heather and columbine. Also, there were a lot of green huckleberries.

We found a knoll above the lake and had a nice lunchbreak, soaking up precious sunlight. We watched diamond ripples cross the lake and gleam off raindrops on the huckleberries and mountain ash leaves.

It was a relaxing day, a good day to chat and catch up with each other's lives. When we headed back, we passed by a lot of other people coming in to the lake late in the day. After the heavy rains the day before, it was a precious moment of sunlight to savor through the coming winter.

The trail was in great shape. The creeks have come up due to the heavy rains, but no problems were encountered. Saw some people in tennis shoes, but good boots are better with all the rock found on the trail. Good views of fresh snow on the peaks above and across the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River, to the north.

The trip started at the Dingford Creek Trailhead. There are some brushy spots and some windfalls on the Middle Fork Trail. There is a new bridge in place over Wildcat Creek. The Rock Creek Trail has been brushed and logged. The trail is now quite pleasant. The route of the old Cascade Crest Trail, now abandoned, can still be followed. The route can be hazardous, however. The avalanche that occured last February carved a huge chunk out of the trail above the waterfalls.

Just two weeks before I had backpacked up to Nada Lake and the trail was in perfect shape. Nature is all powerful because this time on a daytrip on Oct.1st, it was interesting to see the many trees down on the trail from the big winds we had last week. These were about 1 1/2 miles in. None create a real problem but it becomes obvious that we all need to help out by volunteering for the WTA work parties. BTW, many other parties were going in to enjoy the Enchantments and hopefully photograph the larch trees which are starting to change to their golden color. This was the weekend to backpack, perfect conditions. Dean