Grove of the Patriarchs Loop, Silver Falls - Grove of the Patriarchs Snowshoe — Thursday, Feb. 14, 2002

Mount Rainier Area > SE - Cayuse Pass/Stevens Canyon

My favorite hiking partner and I drove past the ""road closed' signs at the turn off for Hwy 123 north at the Hwy 12 jct. The drive up was'nt too bad until the last mile or so. Then you better have a 4x4 or you'll be parking in the middle of the road like this Honda from Oregon did !@#/#!!!!.... We went through the forest on the way up and visited the hot springs( cool stuff) and met our first obstacle at the Laughingwater creek bridge. The snow is piled high but crossable. When we reached Silver Falls the view was just incredable. The bridge was passable even with a fallen tree across it. The next two bridges were too dangerous to cross because of fallen trees and snow pack. We found safer ways of crossing. When finally reaching the bridge to the Patriarchs I was lucky enough to see the back end of a Bobcat go up the trail. Crossing the bridge here also was not the easiest. The snow was packed above the hand rails and very dangerous. After a tour of the giant trees we forded the stream to the east and climbed to the the Hwy. and made our way back to the car. All in all a very nice trip!