Wednesday night date night and we drove outside Monroe (after picking up tasty takeout from Route 2 Taproom) to where the hubs likes to go rockhounding.
We parked our car at the DNR gate next to the bridge over Youngs Creek and ate dinner intermittently with getting up for views down at Youngs Creek rushing underneath. This was my first time here so I am not sure what it SHOULD look like but it sure was a beautiful sight watching the white rapids pour through the carved rock canyon. This was not the official falls but sure seemed like a worthy stop.
After we ate, we walked up the gated forest road, keeping right and gently climbing up towards a cliff wall on the map. I can't complain it wasn't a "real" trail because we had it all to ourselves!
I didn't run a track but my guess would be it was about a 2 mile walk since it took us about 45 minutes at a leisurely pace to get to the viewpoint. We just stuck to the main road aiming for a highpoint on our right. The road climbed more steeply then took an overgrown bootpath out to the cliff where the light came through the trees.
There was a nice view of Mount Rainier to the south and the surrounding hills of the Marckworth Forest. Our elevation was about 860 feet. Turkey vultures swooped in the wind above us, thankfully not an omen for our trip.
The real excitement came on the way out as it was clear someone was target practicing despite the signs indicating that was a no-go. Thankfully, he was just on the road and after hollering out, we were able to pass by unscathed. I'm guessing that is not a normal occurrence and he expected to be alone (even though our car was at the gate).
All and all a nice wander and I would highly recommend it for solitude!
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