Gold Creek Pond, Lodge Lake & Franklin Falls — Tuesday, Jun. 9, 2015

Snoqualmie Region > Snoqualmie Pass

I had great plans to hike up a mountain in the North Cascades today, but life had other ideas. I developed a temporary medical issue and am under doctor's orders to "take it a little easier". So American Pharaoh has nothing on me--I did my trifecta all in one day. Gold Creek Pond hardly qualifies as a hike, being more of a stroll on a paved trail. It served as the warmup and would be good for little kids or people n wheelchairs. Next, Lodge Lake was more of a hike, although not really my kind of hike. I prefer open country with elevation and more of an alpine feel. Woodsy dark lakes are OK, but more for exercise than for experience. I thought the coolest part of the hike was traversing through the ski area, which brought back memories of almost 60 years ago. I learned to ski on that very slope, also how to sneak on the lifts w/o a ticket because I had little to no money. We were even at times known to draw our own counterfeit tickets, which sometimes worked and other times failed hilariously. Anyway, by high school, I got on ski patrol and was able to get free room, board, and lift tickets. That was at Ski Acres, now known by the imaginative (ha ha) name of Summit Central. My mom learned to ski at the Summit in the late 1930s and early 1940s. So the Snoqualmie Pass history runs deep with me and my family. The Franklin Falls trail is very well done. I liked it a lot. It took under a half hour to get to the falls. I am impressed by how robust the falls is on a very dry year. It does drain a large area, but I bet later in the summer it will be anemic. I would be very careful taking little kids on that trail. There are many many places to fall over the cliff and the railings are porous. So this turned out to be an exploration of easy to moderate trails that I had not previously bothered with, all being short and of low elevation gain. It was fun, and did fill in some gaps in my knowledge of this fantastic part of the range. Total mileage about 6-7 miles and elevation gain 1300-1400 feet. Just right for a take it easy day.