Cedar Butte, Olallie State Park - Olallie Trail, Palouse to Cascades Trail - Cedar Falls to Change Creek & Southside Trail — Sunday, Mar. 27, 2022

A few of us and a dog made a loop using the P2C trail, Cedar Butte trail, Southside Trail and the lower part of the Olallie SP Trail. Stats were 10.2 miles and 1040 gain. We arrived at the Cedar Falls TH at 7:30 and had our choice of parking spots. Most of the trails were in great shape. Not much for views at the Boxley Blowout. At Cedar Butte you can peek through trees to the summits across I-90. Quite a few still had snow. I picked some trail conditions because the Southside Trail connecting Cedar Butte to the Olallie trail is a designated primitive trail. At the intersection with the sign it was so overgrown we could hardly see it. The trail was vague in most places. Lots of down branches and trees, including on two severely steep sections that went straight down then straight up as we went east. The footing was tricky on the bare dirt spots. But most of it had loose branches down on it to add to the challenge. There were spots where fallen trees caused deep holes in the ground full of down brush. Hard to find the ground. We kept seeing places where someone had recently cut brush. Our progress corresponded with the GPS route I had. We got to the Olallie trail okay. It was an adventure that pushed our comfort zone. Might not be for everybody. The Olallie SP trail is just the opposite. A very well constructed mountain bike trail! We met several cyclists and runners. Sharing the trail went really well and was friendly. Our dog is still a bit nervous around bikes especially if they arrive suddenly. But he was better by the end of the hike. We lunched at Ragnar. You might bring your own seat. The creosote timber pile is really stinky. The walk back on the P2C trail was surprisingly not busy for a nice spring Sunday. We got back about 1:30 and the parking was packed!