My wife and I discovered the abandoned 'road' to Dirty Harry's Balcony and Peak in late 2005. The road was so steep that it seemed impossible that a vehicle could get up it and yet Dirty Harry's outdoor museum bears witness to even the type of vehicle that could get up it. That has all, thankfully, changed. The excellent parking area (~1,320 ft) and associated facility (Discovery Pass required) and the new trail all bear witness to what improvements are possible. I recommended it: just the short section leading from the parking lot to the part along the road where it cross the river, and then the new trail that initially travels parallel and a fixed distance above the South Fork of the Snoqualmie River to a small kiosk is a joy. The sounds of the river, the ability to look into the incredibly clear water, and the shade and the coolness of the forest. (There is also an excellent kiosk in the parking lot).
Beyond the kiosk, the trail ascents, initially in a straight-forward smooth consistent upwards, a small switch-back and then one enters a series of benches and cliff systems where the trail weaves in and out of these areas with switch-backs, traverses, steep sections, interesting, but safe exposures. Often view points or areas of possible rock climbing are reached and indicated. There were lots of people and well behaved dogs; many had found great places to sit in groups and enjoy the vista up I-90 or across to McClelland's Butte (See Figure 1). After several of these vista points have been passed, one reaches a junction (~2,520 ft), right heads to Dirty Harry's Balcony (the upper most), and the left leads to Dirty Harry's Museum (~3,050) and Dirty Harry's Peak (~4,680+ ft).
I took the left, the abandoned road; there is an initial almost flat traverse through a vine maple area (with no leaves yet, there are views), across an open talus with great views, and then the abandon road starts to climb and so typical of Harry's approach to road building, steeply and occasionally even more steeply. Often the trail along this road wanders from one side to the other in both an effort to by-pass obstacles and to create less of a gradient for the hiker. The latter was greatly appreciated. Gained about five hundred feet and then it crosses a stream that has a main channel, but with high flows, also several active channels. The crossings just took a careful eye and occasional giant step. The museum is reached, but I had seen Harry's stuff back in 2006 and did not need to see it now. The road continues up, switch-backs using some giant flat granite slabs around the corner. Reaches the great view point and associated resting log (Figure 1). Up (never flat or down) and then a switch-back at the base of a giant talus (~3,450 ft), switch-backs with a few signs of snow, more steeply up, another switch-back and more evidence of snow and some covering the trail, more steeply up and another switch-back (~3,700 ft). Now the trail was consistently snow covered and the snow was getting deeper quickly as elevation was gained. I put on the microspikes and was instantly happy with my decision. The up becomes sufficiently steep in places that I either used someone else's steps or kicked my own. Around 4,350 ft, the trail is now weaving back and forth and is very steep (I discovered coming down). Finally a ridge is reached, the track is relatively gentle, the views are through gaps, and a high point is reached with views down to still mostly frozen Granite Lake.
The descent was relatively fast with some skating, when the prussian stepping technique would fail. Stopped at two view points for water and arrived back at the car after about 5 hours of fun and effort. Some of the contrasts with my first trip are shown in Figure 2. On March 4, 2006 was very different -- Harry's largely unmodified road was parked at its intersection with the pave road to the training facility. I was the only car parked at that unofficial trailhead. Took Harry's 'road' to the base of the talus (~3,450 ft) where there was consistent, solid snow that I could kick steps straight to the ridge. Trees and vegetation has grown a lot; many of the second growth trees have grown considerably (even 6 inches or half-foot each year adds up especially when the trees were between 8 and 20 feet tall in 2006. The descent was also much faster with a great glissade from the ridge to 3,450 ft. Back on the road. What there is now is so vastly better. I thank all of those who, obviously, put a ton of time, energy, and work into making this a gem.
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