Troublesome Creek Nature #1079

I took my youngest son Ben up to Troublesome Creek on a beautiful sunny day. The Index-Galena Road was closed about a mile before the Troublesome Creek Campground (just past the bridge over the Skykomish). We had lunch and tossed rocks in the river for a bit, watched some kayakers go past, and strolled up the road to the campground.

Under the warm sun the forest couldn't have smelled more inviting. Salmonberry and wood violets were blooming all along the road, and we stopped at a few spots along the river. We couldn't see why the road was closed before the campground, but it turned out to be a very pleasant walk.

At the campground we stopped by the memorial to the little girl who drowned in 1997, then hiked up past the deeply incised rock through which Troublesome Creek flows. We went a short way up the unmaintained trail to hang out by the creek. Ben amused himself hopping boulders and trying to fill the creek with rocks.

Bleeding heart was starting to bloom along the creek, and still a few trilliums here and there.