Downey Creek — Monday, Nov. 17, 2014

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

With the nice but cold weather I thought I would explore the Downey Creek Trail. I arrived at 9:15am and found the Downey Creek parking lot closed because of unsafe tree issues, so I parked further down the road directly across from the trail. The trail starts out with some easy switchbacks but soon levels out, taking you through old growth forest. Most of the trail was in good shape but there were areas with blowdown problems and some challenging creek crossings because of the ice. According to some other reports these same creek crossings can be tricky during times of high water. Once this trail gets maintenance it should be a good early and late season trail because of the elevation. Most of the time you can hear but not see the creek and I hiked until the trail came close to the creek and turned around where a tree crashed through a footbridge. The area where I turned around opened up a bit with the sun shining and Green Mountain on the my left. I made it back to my car by 12:15pm.