Woo Hoo! The first hike of the season!   After a nice breakfast out, Dug and I met up with Sarbar and Rainrunner. Turtle was nice enough to bring the dogs when she met us (she was invited to breakfast, but was too lazy to get up that early ) We met up at Twin Falls state park. This is one of my favorite off-season hikes. Turtle was a little concerned with the few little droplets that were appearing on her windshield, but I told her to put on her raincoat and shush. (I had told both her and Dug earlier that week that I was going hiking this weekend "rain or shine!") I had new boots to start breaking in.

I finally got to give Fordy his xmas present, but we made him wait until we got back to the cars to open it. After a quick exchange of books (woo hoo!) and a changing of shoes, we hit the trail after paying our $5 visitor use fee. The parking lot wasn't too crowded, and while we didn't have the trail to ourselves, we didn't feel like we were hiking along a freeway either.

The trail follows the South Fork of the Snoqualmie River for the first part, then wanders away from the river and heads uphill. There are lots of nice views of the river and one very nice place to stop, after a couple of little switchbacks, to sit and look up valley to the falls and where you will be heading. We took a few photos here and continued uphill. Ford loved being able to lead Treasure. I taught Ford about nurse logs! 

We continued uphill, admiring the HUGE old growth Douglas fir tree, then took the little side trail that leads to the lookout for the lower falls. From here there is also a very nice view of the river down valley. The water was incredibly green and it was starting to snow lightly on us. Cool!  Then it was back up the trail/stairs to continue on to the upper falls.

I didn't point this out at the time, but Sarbar was standing on a bridge, between two rushing waterfalls, with a BIG drop-off on one side, and she didn't even flinch!! Good girl!  At this point, we hung out for awhile enjoying the views before turning around and heading back. The trail continues on to meet up with the Iron Horse trail, about 1/2 mile further on. There are a couple of loop options too.Lunch options were suggested... We ended up going to a brew pub in Issaquah that rainrunner and I have been to before. YUM! BURP! 

Despite all the errands and chores we had to do this weekend, we were determined to get at least one night of hiking in. It ended up being a wonderful thing that we hit the trail on Monday because we had the entire place to ourselves. We forgot about getting food in the city, so we had gas station food for our dinner. LOL.

After hiking about a mile of old private road, we reached the real trail. The wildflowers were in full bloom, and I saw at least two rare species of plants. That always makes a wonderful trip for me! It was hot hot hot and DRY! But the river was icy cold and rushing. We found a beautiful campsite next to the river, about 6 miles or so in, set up camp and continued hiking up towards the meadows. We didn't make it that far. We only went to the trails junction because we were running out of time. This would make a wonderful place for a multi-day backpack. There is so much exploring to do in this area! I'd like to get back here sometime soon. I'll bet it is just as beautiful in the fall.

This was an anniversary trip. Dug and I had met here in 2004. I was in much much better shape then! It was blistering hot out, and I was sweating like mad and huffing and puffing up the hill. Did I mention that I was also pregnant at the time? LOL.

The lake was beautiful and very swimmable, but the bugs haven't gotten any better!