2 of us did a private hike with our dog to scout Wallace Lake for an upcoming Mountaineers trip lead. We arrived at 8:45 a.m. on a Saturday and grabbed one of the last spots in the parking lot. The trail signs say the park is open from 8 a.m. to dusk, but a ranger said 6:30 a.m. is more likely in summer.
Be sure you have a Discover pass. And go early if you're visiting on a weekend. There are multiple rest rooms at either end of the parking lot, and eyeball estimate room for 100 or more cars. When we came out at 2 cars were parked clear down on the main road, including a yard that advertised $20/day to park 100 yards closer.
We started out walking with some pretty big groups of families, trail runners, and hikers, a few backpackers and dogs, with electrical power lines zapping faintly overhead. But once we got into the woods, the sounds disappeared.
And at mile 1.5 (where there are toilets just off the main trail) the crowds disappeared as well; the bulk of people visiting Wallace Falls State Park go to the Falls. We took the Greg Ball trail into the woods, heading for Wallace Lake along Woody rather than Railroad Grade. It was a humid, overcast, cooler day than it's been in weeks, and for that we were all thankful. Especially our dog.
There is evidence of recent trail work including a new bridge near an enormous blowdown. We came across one step-over but otherwise the trail is in decent shape, especially the strip between the road and the lake - gentle grade, bigger gravel and dirt, comfortable on the ankles and feet. And plenty of river access between the parking lot and the Falls, lots of people had their dogs enjoying the river.
On the morning, we heard 17 species of birds including a pair of belted kingfishers, two hairy woodpeckers foraging near each other, at least one cedar waxwing, varied and Swainson's thrushes, and a western tanager. Not much in the way of wildflowers other than some foxgloves. Once you get off the Wallace Falls trail, we only saw a few people, the Holy Grail (to us) of weekend hiking in the PNW.
I'd been to the lake before, four years earlier, doing the whole Falls loop, but I hadn't skirted the west side to see Pebble Beach on the north shore. There are lots of logs for great spots for lunch; the other turn-outs on the west side go to the lake but they don't provide ready wading access. At the kiosk, "Pebble Beach" looks like it's half way up the lake, but you have to go all the way to the gravel run-out where the sign for Jay Lake says "1 mile." Comfortable with the lead-in to that final mile, we stopped at the north lake as "good enough" on the day.
The beach itself drops off pretty steeply, so if you go to wade, prepare to only get your ankles wet or take a swim. Colder than I expected! Tons of little minnow-like fish swimming around. Perfect food for kingfishers. I'm guessing the pair we heard and saw had a nest nearby but we didn't hear any young kingfishers.
We spotted one campsite on the east side of the lake, but when a party of 5 and another of 4 arrived, we headed back the way we came.
The sun poked out the last half hour of our trip; AllTrails had us at 10 miles round trip, 2.4 mph average pace, with 2000' gain (I thought it would be closer to 1600') - I'm guessing that's total up-and-down. I tested out a new pair of boots that did great.
On the drive back we got stuck in slower US-2 traffic, generally the case on weekend hikes. Hoping on a Tuesday lead we won't have the same problem when we go opposite major traffic flow...
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