Boulder River — Saturday, Nov. 30, 2002

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

An exceptionally fine day for a hike up the easy and peaceful Boulder River trail. The Northwest Forest Pass sign has been molested and thrown in a ditch which appears to be the norm for this trail. This trailhead needs a box toilet badly, but I shutter to think what the vandals would do to it (see the recent Mount Pilchuck Report). The trail is in fine shape all the way to its end. No snow, no mud, no standing water. The work WTA has done over the years has really helped inprove the trail a lot. Also the Darrington crew blasted out the large rock that slid across the trail sometime last spring. One problem I will report is that the railing on the last, high foot-log near the end of the trail is completely gone, so walk carefully or avoid it if you suffer from vertigo. The fall would not be a pleasant one. We went all the way to the end of the trail and found a sunny patch on a mossy log to sit and enjoy an early lunch. We saw no one until the way out when we encountered many dogs and their pet people. Each one was well behaved, and a pleasure to meet. Sadly I must report that there are also no trees of significance laying across the trail. Boulder River is the traditional location for WTA's New Year's EVE/crosscut sawing party every year. Unless we get some really bad wind storms between now and then, we'll have to go someplace else.