Tahoma Creek Suspension Bridge - Emerald Ridge Loop, Westside Road & South Puyallup Trail — Sunday, Jun. 11, 2023

With the Tahoma Creek trail closed, I thought I would take the Westside Rd up to Round Pass, head up to Emerald Ridge, down to the suspension bridge and then backtrack to Round Pass for my hike today.

I started by half riding, half walking my bike up to Round Pass. There is a bike rack at the Lake George TH.

Once my bike was locked up, I took the connector trail across Westside Rd and dropped down the 0.6 mi to the South Puyallup trail.  

The connector trail and the S. Puyallup trail are snow free with a couple of blow downs (easy to get over) to the campsites.  Today there was an inversion layer.  Hence, it was raining/misting until I got to the 4,600ft level.  The beginning of the S. Puyallup trail is really green after all of the rain.

There were some snow patches starting around 4,300ft on the way up to Emerald Ridge.  Easy to traverse.  The patches are small enough, you can see the trail and pick it back up easily.

It was blue sky up on Emerald Ridge.  Goats in the distance and the resident marmots kept my interest.  It was so gorgeous on ER, I ended up spending a couple of hours soaking up the sun and solitude.

I never made it to the suspension bridge due to how much time I spent on ER.  Time well spent.

I headed back down the way I came.  I didn’t see anyone until I saw a trail runner at the junction with the connector trail back up to Round Pass.

Mgads, was that you? 

Once back to my bike, it was a quick trip back to my car.  I did see a couple of solo hikers and a couple of groups heading up Westside Rd.