Boulder River — Friday, Jun. 28, 2002

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

First hike with all my children! Oldest son is 19, daughter is 16 & youngest son 9. Easy drive, good directions. Road to trailhead was ok, not too many potholes, ie. you don't need a SUV. We left trailhead @ 10:45, only 5-6 cars there. Very much a ""rain forest hike"". Lots of moss laden trees, spectacular 5-6' thru old growth trees that easily soar over 200'. The falls were truly Gods paintbrush in action! Was not sure what ""water on trail"" meant, now I know! We crossed at least 20-25 streams that do require some caution. My girl slipped & had wet clothes to deal with. My 9 yr. old really enjoyed figuring the route thru each stream, & it was fun to watch his confidence grow at each crossing. Some slippery log bridges, some spots on trail a little overgrown. No bugs!! Very good 1st hike to take younger kids on. Not a hard hike, but defintely more challenging than Cape Alava or Lake Valhalla hikes my older son & I went on for Boy Scout outings. Finished @ 4:45PM Enjoy, I certainly did!