Zig Zag Trail — Saturday, Aug. 9, 2014

Snoqualmie Region > North Bend Area

7.0mi RT 980m ascent. Given the forecast of doom (85F for the day), I planned an early, short, and shaded day as my next weekend will be occupied with work duties. Indeed, I was up around 0345 doing the usual preparations, and on the trail about 0530; sunrise was about 0600. The air temperature was still about 60F, which is unfortunately high for a good hike, and the general heat wave that we've been in means that I'm perpetually dehydrated despite drinking three quarts of water every day, so I was a bit sluggish only averaging about 1.8mph up the hill (870m). While there was a bit of sun rising on the eastward portion, the bulk of the hike was in the trees or on the west side of a hill, which was the plan all along. At the top, the temperature had fallen much closer to 50F, and I was in the shade and in general bliss. Nothing particularly exciting happened on the descent, though I turned off to Hall Creek Falls to see how they were doing. Indeed, water was falling. There's a new 'Hall Creek' trail that turns off about 300m before the falls, but I did not follow it too far up the hill before deciding it was time to turn around. This is also the first hike where I've seen any animals larger than squirrels. I saw what appeared to be a cat idiotically standing in the middle of a gravel road (but I guess that doesn't count as wildlife), a rabbit on the same gravel road doing a standard confused zigzag (at least in the right place), and another rabbit on the upper westward trail. Number of people seen during the hike: Zero.