Home was NOT a great place for my snowshoes today. I never dreamed I would be breaking trail through 12+ inches of snow, but more on that soon.

A couple cars in the parking lot when I started this morning at about 7:30 am. The trail to the balcony is snow-free and certainly muddy in parts. From there, I started off towards the museum. Almost immediately after leaving the balcony, the snow starts. At first it's just a slushy dusting. By the time I reached the spur to the museum, it was about 1-2 inches. It stayed like this to the museum and back. I was treated to a joyous dumping of snow while continuing on towards the peak, but thankfully the precipitation didn't last too long. Creek crossing was easy.

I forged onwards, lulled into a false sense of security with only this few inches of snow on the ground. By now it was about 3-4 inches. Not bad. I was enjoying being alone and the first one on the trail. The trees were pretty, and with the exception of I-90 in the background, it was quiet.

By the time I reached about 3500 ft, I was breaking trail through fresh, fluffy snow that was at least a foot deep. Combined with the elevation gain, it was exhausting! But still I kept on trucking, cursing the fact that I didn't have my snowshoes. I admitted defeat at around 4200 ft. So close to the summit!! But I guessed there wouldn't be any views anyway, and I knew that final climb through even deeper snow would not have been terribly fun. I have no regrets going though. I enjoyed the scenic, snowy mountains and the descent through the fresh powder. I still hadn't seen anybody. I finally ran into my first group after nearly 4 hours, and after that only 2 other groups.

My wife and I discovered the abandoned 'road' to Dirty Harry's Balcony and Peak in late 2005.  The road was so steep that it seemed impossible that a vehicle could get up it and yet Dirty Harry's outdoor museum bears witness to even the type of vehicle that could get up it.  That has all, thankfully, changed.  The excellent parking area (~1,320 ft) and associated facility (Discovery Pass required) and the new trail all bear witness to what improvements are possible.  I recommended it: just the short section leading from the parking lot to the part along the road where it cross the river,  and then the new trail that initially travels parallel and a fixed distance above the South Fork of the Snoqualmie River to a small kiosk is a joy.  The sounds of the river, the ability to look into the incredibly clear water, and the shade and the coolness of the forest. (There is also an excellent kiosk in the parking lot). 

Beyond the kiosk, the trail ascents, initially in a straight-forward smooth consistent upwards, a small switch-back and then one enters a series of benches and cliff systems where the trail weaves in and out of these areas with switch-backs, traverses, steep sections, interesting, but safe exposures.  Often view points or areas of possible rock climbing are reached and indicated.  There were lots of people and well behaved dogs; many had found great places to sit in groups and enjoy the vista up I-90 or across to McClelland's Butte (See Figure 1).  After several of these vista points have been passed, one reaches a junction (~2,520 ft), right heads to Dirty Harry's Balcony (the upper most), and the left leads to Dirty Harry's Museum (~3,050) and Dirty Harry's Peak (~4,680+ ft).

I took the left, the abandoned road; there is an initial almost flat traverse through a vine maple area (with no leaves yet, there are views), across an open talus with great views, and then the abandon road starts to climb and so typical of Harry's approach to road building, steeply and occasionally even more steeply.  Often the trail along this road wanders from one side to the other in both an effort to by-pass obstacles and to create less of a gradient for the hiker.  The latter was greatly appreciated. Gained about five hundred feet and then it crosses a stream that has a main channel, but with high flows, also several active channels.  The crossings just took a careful eye and occasional giant step.  The museum is reached, but I had seen Harry's stuff back in 2006 and did not need to see it now.  The road continues up, switch-backs using some giant flat granite slabs around the corner. Reaches the great view point and associated resting log (Figure 1).  Up (never flat or down) and then a switch-back at the base of a giant talus (~3,450 ft), switch-backs with a few signs of snow, more steeply up, another switch-back and more evidence of snow and some covering the trail, more steeply up and another switch-back (~3,700 ft).  Now the trail was consistently snow covered and the snow was getting deeper quickly as elevation was gained.  I put on the microspikes and was instantly happy with my decision.  The up becomes sufficiently steep in places that I either used someone else's steps or kicked my own.  Around 4,350 ft, the trail is now weaving back and forth and is very steep (I discovered coming down).  Finally a ridge is reached, the track is relatively gentle, the views are through gaps, and a high point is reached with views down to still mostly frozen Granite Lake.

The descent was relatively fast with some skating, when the prussian stepping technique would fail.  Stopped at two view points for water and arrived back at the car after about 5 hours of fun and effort.  Some of the contrasts with my first trip are shown in Figure 2. On March 4, 2006 was very different -- Harry's largely unmodified road was parked at its intersection with the pave road to the training facility.  I was the only car parked at that unofficial trailhead.  Took Harry's 'road' to the base of the talus (~3,450 ft) where there was consistent, solid snow that I could kick steps straight to the ridge.  Trees and vegetation has grown a lot; many of the second growth trees have grown considerably (even 6 inches or half-foot each year adds up especially when the trees were between 8 and 20 feet tall in 2006.  The descent was also much faster with a great glissade from the ridge to 3,450 ft.  Back on the road.  What there is now is so vastly better.  I thank all of those who, obviously, put a ton of time, energy, and work into making this a gem.

Anyone forget to pick up their 10 lb. barbell on the way out? We found one on a rock beside the trail, shortly before the creek crossing on the way up.

Our destination was actually the "benches", at 3,400', over a mile from the peak proper. Saw more clouds than views. Trail was entirely snow free. The big creek crossing was a little tricky for this 5'1" gal. The taller folks did fine with trekking poles. A lovely hike. We had the way up and the benches all to ourselves. Then ran into a solo hiker and several groups heading up when we were heading down. The trail is in really good shape and well signed. 

I picked up a bit of garbage on the way out, including several wads of TP and an orange peel. For those who didn't know, TP takes about 5 weeks to decompose while orange peels take about 6 months. And no one wants to look at your trash any more than you want to look at theirs. 

A late start, 4:30pm, and small off trail segment meant that I finished the hike in the dark.  My off-trail segment started as I was following a wet part of the trail over rocks and missed a switchback into the woods, this added an extra half mile to my trip.  Make sure you look out for the switchback, if you start to see a large talus field then you've went to far.  After getting back on trail, you'll soon encounter a bunch of water going over the trail, this will require a bit of rock-hopping to cross, another place to be  careful--see picture.  After crossing the water you'll start to encounter snow which becomes increasingly deep as you get towards the top.  The warm weather over the last few days has compressed the snow so I was able to walk on top of most of it with only a few postholes.  The snow was a bit slushy so heading back downhill was a bit slippery with a combination of walking and sliding through the snow.  The trail does take quite awhile to complete, so make sure you have a headlamp if you start late in the afternoon.  My late start meant that I was able to see an amazing sunset through the trees.  Happy Hiking.

There's very little snow on the way to DH's Balcony - probably all to melt by the (expected to be very warm) weekend.  There's an occasional mud-puddle, though mostly these can be avoided.  Unfortunately this morning the clouds completely obliterated the usual views of McClellan's Butte and surrounding peaks.

Once past the spur to DH's Museum it was clear that nobody had headed to the Peak in some days.  The creek crossing was easy - the rocks were not at all icy.  Beyond that- the trail / snow-trench was well covered, drifting more deeply as I labored upward.  I put on my snowshoes after the second switchback past the Museum, but the snow (which had been fairly dense) became powdery and deep.  Near the summit each step sank about a foot deep.  There was a brief narrow bit of blue overhead but views were brief and murky with the diffuse ongoing snowfall and remaining clouds.

I had planned on exploring Coincidence Point that Kidz Wont Hike explored last November.  Not for this geezer for today - too tired, and there wouldn't have been any views even if I managed.

Anyone attempting this should have a much easier time now that the trail has been re-established.  Some care is advised as there are occasional hidden voids in the snow, and (as of when I departed) the snow is still very soft.  All subject to change with the warm days almost here!