If you""re looking for a close-in hike with solitude, even on the weekend, this is the place for you. We found the hike described in ""55 Hikes Around Snoqualmie Pass"" as well as similar books. The first part of the trail is shown on Green Trails map #206. The trail is long (11 miles roundtrip)and uphill all the way, but not unbearable and in shade almost all the way. Unfortunately it is also somewhat overgrown.
From I-90 take exit 38 and follow the signs to the State Fire Training Center. After you have gone under the freeway you come to a gate which if open you can drive to the trailhead, but do notice the warning that the gate is locked at 4 PM. It wasn't open this morning at 9:30 AM so we parked here.
Not being very familiar with the hunting regulations in the area we decided to be on the safe side and wore our brightest clothes. But they gave me little comfort when I noticed that the owner of the truck I parked behind was more likely to be a hunter than a hiker (by your window stickers that tout your various affiliations ye shall be known.) I asked a woman who was walking down from the gate if we were likely to get shot up there and she said ""no, they're down the other way""(east). She turned out to be the last person we'd see until we got back to our truck after our hike.
The walk up the paved road from the gate to the trailhead is easy and quick. Cross the concrete bridge which goes over a beautiful guiet hole in the river with a sandy beach. Pass a chain link fenced electrical station. Then the road goes over a culverted creek. Now start looking for some big concrete blocks on the right side which mark the trailhead. If you drove you can park on the other side of the road.
The trail is actually a rocky overgrown logging road which is now a creek in many places. The dampness means it was quite pleasant this time of year- shaded and cool with beatiful mosses and fungi. But the rest of the year, when there is more water on the trail and it isn't so warm out,I'm sure it isn't so nice.
On a switchback you will come to a cairn that marks the trail on the right which is to Dirty Harry's Balcony. Ignore this and go left.
When you reach 3000 feet on the trail there is supposed to be some abandoned logging machinery in the woods. We couldn't find any. We tried to explore the area around and below the rough bouldery creek that crosses the trail near this point, but to no avail- maybe we're just blind. The only artifacts we saw were small and nowhere near this location- the end of a choker cable near the summit and a few items on the balcony trail.
As you continue onward and upward you will come to a impressive but small rockslide of boulders. These are best climbed toward the bottom so that you can pick up the trail again.
The forest becomes less dense as you get close to the top. It does start getting pretty steep, but there is no difficult climbing. Now you will see the last of the wildflowers blooming and a myriad of insects, fortunately most of them not the bloodthirsty kind. I counted at least four species of butterflies, and many different kinds of bees that were feeding on yarrow. It was sunny and clear today and the views from the top are almost 360 although they are somewhat interuppted by the scrawny trees up there. On the north side there is a sheer drop off to the Granite Lakes below-yikes!
We saw the usual cast of small critters and birds including a Townsend warbler, all the large mammal sign was old. We flushed up a grouse and I heard several birds I couldn't identify. On the bottom part of the trail we encoutered two slugs in a courtship(or mating') dance, circling each other in a trail of slime. I wanted to see what happened next, but my son insisted we move along. I feel privleged to have witnessed this event.
We found no huckleberries on this trail. There were thimbleberries.
The photo opportunities are good if you like small things like moss and butterflies, but I was caught every time with either the wrong film or lens. I had planned to photograph some of the many mushrooms we had encountered near the start of the trail after I had shot up my slow film up top and replaced it with faster film for the return. But when we returned they had all been kicked over! By whom' Then we encountered a large number of footprints that hadn't been there before.
With all our diversions, we didn't get done with our hike until 5:30. While we lingered at our truck, a group of climbers emerged from the gated road. I suspect these were the mushroom kickers as a climbers trail spurs of the main trail at some point.