We needed a hike relatively close to home today, so returned to our favorite early-season, near-home, go-to for conditioning: the Olallie Trail. Depending on snow levels and personal preference, one could hike over nine miles on this trail, at least, and summit Mt.Washington while they're at it. Edelman and I have never done either, but we like the option. Today we hiked about 3.5 miles (just short of the second viewpoint) stopping for lunch in a small sunny area along the ridge. We would have gone to one of the viewpoints beyond this, but snow started at about 2700 feet and we just didn't have the time today.The snow is melting and only about two inches deep where we went, but it is slushy and slippery. Not sure how deep it is at, say, viewpoint #5, which is 5.5 miles up the Olallie and not too far from the cut off trail to Mt. Washington . . . I'd bring spikes if you're thinking about tackling it.
We parked at the Cedar Falls lot at about 9:20 and followed the Palouse to Cascades trail for 2 miles till picking up the Olallie Trail (which is obviously marked with a kiosk). The Olallie is mostly used as a mountain bike trail, but that's fine by us. The trail is well-maintained by the bike folks. We encountered about 30 or so bikes today, all of the riders friendly. You will want to be aware of the fact that it is a multi-use trail and be sure to step well aside when a biker comes blasting down the trail. If you're the earphones-with-music-blasting type, I wouldn't hike here! Luckily, we're the codgers-listening- to-birdsong type. Nice views out across Sno Valley today (from Viewpoint #1). Trail is in excellent condition all the way up to the "first crest." As I said, snow starts not too long after, and we encountered a couple of prickly blowdowns (whole trees with branches across the trail, small but minorly gnarly--see attached pic). We hiked 11.3 RT, 4.25 hrs. hiking. Wildflowers seen today were salmonberry blooms and some sort of buttercup. One final note: there was a marathon and ultra marathon event happening today along the PTC--or part of it. We spoke briefly with a guy in his 20's (looked like) who was on his 38th mile. We saw other runners, as well, a whole spectrum of folks. So nice to see people outside, embracing the fact of being alive, doing something positive, with others, amidst all the tribulation happening in our world right now.
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