I ignored my own dictum of never-hike-on-a-weekend and came here.  From the Homestead Valley Trailhead I hiked east a short way on the Palouse to Caascades Trail.  The unmarked start of the bootleg Change Creek Trail takes off at the west end of a small concrete trestle between the much larger Change Creek and Hall Creek Trestles.  Once onto the Change Creek Trail, you will rarely see anybody, even on, God forbid, a weekend.  

I took a cue from C.P. and brought my pruning saw, intending to clear some brush from the trail.  Snow, however, kept me from reaching the section of trail I had intended to work on.  Will have to come back in the spring.  The trail is in good shape, with several easy blowdowns.  As you reach the ridge below Hall Point, there is a trickier blowdown to scramble/straddle over, but doesn't pose a serious obstacle.  Patchy snow starts here too.  I continued to just before the first crossing of Change Creek (culverted).  It was at that point I needed to decide whether to put on my gaiters, or turn around.  I turned around and took the short spur trail to the summit of Hall Point.  This is a delightful flat summit with a comfortable sitting rock and a log, and with great views.  

No traction needed, but conditions change almost daily this time of year.  Be warned, this is a steep, ornery trail, not for the casual sightseer, though it's well-built and safe enough if you hike carefully, especially on the descent.

Went up to see about Olallie Knob as we had read a few reports. We figured best to do it while it is still relatively dry. Spoiler - we did not get there. We parked at the Olallie State Park lot for Weeks Falls along with 2 other cars. One of the two toilets was closed due to 'low activity'.

We headed up the Hall Creek Trail under the trestle and scampered up the hill onto said trestle and west along the Palouse to Cascades Trail. We were just below the thick clouds as we could see them across I-90, but it did feel like we were in some lighter clouds cover. We briefly watched a few groups of climbers just after the trestle. Crossed the next small bridge and went around the fence to access the trail.

The initial climb was quite pleasant with damp, but solid footing. 1 mile from the car the trail became more rocky with a lot of loose sharp rocks moving under our feet, but traction was good. A couple times I mistakenly proclaimed we were just below our target spot, but it was a little further than anticipated. We eventually found the turnoff point, although we mistakenly took the steep bootpath up to the ridge trail instead of the sharp u-turn 20 feet further. We headed along the ridge and decided to leave our poles as we needed hands in spots. In about 15 feet of traverse we then decided it would be better to also leave our packs. After a short discussion we decided to skip this today and head up the trail further. We visited Hall Point and J's Landing. The former afforded us a limited view mainly to the northeast and the latter offered nothing additional. The remainder of the sign to Hall Point merely says "point."

We headed back down and estimated that we really didn't get very far along the ridge to the Knob. Another day. Oh, and the folding table someone brought partway down is still there. Must have been an epic poker game up there.

The upper part of Change Creek (from Hall Point to the start (or end) of the Olallie Trail is quite overgrown.  Let's be honest.  You wouldn't be reading this if you weren't at least a little bit curious.  So pack a saw or clippers like I did, and come up and give this trail some love.  

I did a clockwise loop starting at the Homestead Valley TH.  Hiked east a little way on the Palouse to Cascade Trail.  From here the unmarked start of the Change Creek Trail takes off through the brush at the west end of a small concrete RR trestle.  At the second switchback, the sign pictured above will be your first assurance that you are on the right trail.  The next mile is steep and rough, with frequent good views over the Snoqualmie Valley, and views down to Hall Creek Falls.

After this long mile or more, the short spur trail to Hall Point is reached (good view) and also, thank goodness, the beginning of the old road system upon which the rest of this hike lies.  From here on, all trail gradients are far more gentle.  Also, the brush starts here, almost entirely alder, so not too unpleasant.

After a while, the trail crosses Change Creek (culverted).  A bit beyond, you might see a cutoff trail taking off to the left.  Avoid this silly trail, and let it return to nature.  Instead continue ahead on the old road bed.  The road/trail makes three switchbacks, then in about a mile come to Change Creek again, the creek by now quite small.  Here there is another silly cutoff trail to your right, marked "Pond".  Avoid it, and instead continue straight, crossing the creek and continuing on the old roadbed.  This part of the trail is quite overgrown, but the old roadbed is always obvious underneath it all.

In about twenty minutes (plus time spent sawing or clipping - you know you will!), you come out on a superhighway of a trail.  This is the current end of the Ollalie Trail, apparently little used at this point.  On good trail now, this climbs high on the north shoulder of Change Peak, the drops down to intersect the Great Wall and Mt. Washington Trails, then out, for a long loop.

I didn't go to either summit of Change Peak or Mt. Washington today.  The hike is strenuous enough, especially after spending a couple hours sawing alders.  Come up and lend a hand!  The reward is solitude (in the Snoqualmie, no less!) and plenty of good views.

Hall Point, Change Creek, Great Wall Trail, Mt Washington

(Another trail closed! See below.)

First true sun hike for the year, but fortunately most of the morning hike was in the shade of the forest as is much of the descent on the new trail. The Great Wall Trail is, of course, the most exposed.

Fallen trees grace the ascent above the John Wayne Trail, but the trail from the first overlook to Ravens Roost is in relatively good shape despite increased traffic in recent years. A small downed tree on the rise to Hall Point makes one area of the descent difficult. The section south of Hall Point felt different, less-well-trodden, with more trail detris though not yet fully encroached. The FS road approaching Change Lake may become entirely overgrown in the next 3--5 years, but the west section to the Great Wall trail is much safer since regrading. Zero visitors on these trails today except me; all crowds were on the Mt Washington side.

Very offended with the closure. After several years constructing the new bike trails on top of the hiking trails, it seems there were enough bikes encroaching on the southern roads that they opted to close it off entirely. The south junction of the Great Wall Trail now has very large concrete blocks designating the southern ridge road as (newly) off limits. While the watershed is on the south, downhill side of that road, it has always been accessible and is the only route for a loop hike from Hall Point to Hall Peak to the Great Wall trail. This effectively means that Hall Peak will never get visitors, because going one way up the goat path is enough for any day, and the lower roads back to Hall Creek require machetes. This also restricts the available "emergency exits" (ie safe options when hiking), because one might reach an area and find that a connecting road is offlimits. This was never an issue with hikers since we leave very little impact; it seems moutain bikers were enough to impact the area or lead to overnights/fire-pits/etc. :[

11.7mi 1190m ascent

From Homestead trailhead, ran up to Mt Washington and then back down Change Creek. 

There's very occasional snow heading up to the summit starting at about 3500', but it's all packed down and easy to walk on. No need for poles or spikes at all - I ran the entire loop in trail shoes. 

Descent down Change Creek is getting overgrown after the spring; lots more reeds and stems to whap at your legs. Several big downed trees on the descent to clamber around, but I'm not terribly optimistic they'll be cleared soon given the infrequent nature of this trail. If you haven't been down Change Creek, keep heads up (or GPS) when coming to the pond as the trail is getting hard to follow and there are very few signs. 

About 2h45 car-to-car (as a trail run).