Cherry Creek Falls — Saturday, Jul. 28, 2012

Central Cascades > Stevens Pass - West

Cloudy morning that burned off by noon. High 70'ish but muggy. Lots of bugs & slugs on the trail. I'm a relatively early starter so was on the trail by 8:45. Only encountered others on the way down and everyone was unclear that they were on the right path to the falls and asked about it. The falls are a lovely payoff to the hike. Sadly, the trail is not one of my favorites. While the elevation gain is modest the trail is very rocky in some places and the trail notes don't indicate navigating 8-9 washouts (mostly dry but some a bit steep and slippery) before you get to the Marshall Creek one you actually need to ford. Also, the right onto the path to the falls just past this creek is not clearly marked. Another gracious hiker has marked it with a white plastic grocery bag but that is more easily seen if you miss the path, go on along the road and have to turn around. This path has many paths that can lead one astray. We found a few of them up and back and our 5 mile hike turned into 7. Glad we had some GPS help along the way.