Holder Knob, Boot Trail, Holder Creek, Mountain Beaver Trail, Carey Creek Trail, Holder Ridge Trail, Donkey Engine Trail & Whiskey Still Trail — Saturday, Apr. 10, 2021

After trying to get over Snoqualmie Pass to enjoy a sunny day, Birb and I turned back because the I-90 was snowy enough after exit 34 that several folks had gotten in wrecks.

Instead, we turned to Taylor Mountain — an area that they’d hiked before, but hadn’t done since they started their goal to “color all the maps!”

We parked at the main entrance, then went up Holder Creek for a bit (the trail was closed at the bridge due to washouts) to Holder Ridge to Holder Knob, then cut over to A Road, went down Boot (when we ran into a washout), turned left and went up Mt Beaver Trail, continued down Donkey Engine, and popped out Carey Creek to color that segment. We then backtracked back out Holder Ridge/Holder Creek via Carey Creek, Mt Beaver, Boot, and A Road.

The trails were in excellent condition, sans a super muddy section down Carey Creek—like, almost ate my trail runners every step for almost half a mile muddy.

A variety of flowers were starting to pop: trillium, salmonberry, dandelions, Siberian spring beauty, etc. A variety of birds were also out, like robins, juncos, etc. Some spring mushrooms were also present, e.g., Morchellaceae. Plus, the weather was nice almost the entire time (there was a single patch of sleet that fell sporadically for 20 or so minutes but it passed by quickly).

We didn’t get much gain, but we had a lot of quality time together outside (which we sorely needed), and was the most important part to our hike today :).