As much as I want Winter to arrive and blanket the mountains with deep snow I also realize it means the closing of many of my favorite destinations. Some become inaccessible due to snowed-in roads and some, like Snoqualmie Mountain, become too dangerous except in ideal snow conditions.
Snoqualmie is a great Sunday morning trip because it's short and has great views. To get to those great views, though, you have to climb 3,000 feet in a mile and a half and suffer up a terrible trail on the lower part of the mountain.
How terrible? Really terrible. A significant portion is up a steep creek bed that was full of water on this day. Worse than going up, though, is coming down. The rocks are slick and although there are plenty of branches to grab on to prevent a fall, about a quarter are devil's club. Fall or get a handful of tiny spines in your hand? Hard to call that one. (I'm partial to the fall.)
Higher the trail is not great, but at least there are views. Even though Snoqualmie Mountain isn't in the Wilderness it's right on the boundary. That means just to the north is unspoiled land as far as the eye can see. Well, when you can see.
This day the clouds were thick and only the summits of the surrounding peaks uh... peeked out of the mist in the valley.
Treen didn't care. She's happy to be on the trail. When you get right down to it, I didn't care. I'm always happy to be on the trail. Some days are better than others, but they're all good.
And I didn't even fall on the way down the terrible trail.
