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| Hiking | 11.25 Miles |
1,684 AEG |
| | Hiking | 11.25 Miles | 4 Hrs 52 Mns | | 2.31 mph |
| 1,684 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Spent a week up in WA to see the Steelers play and to visit my friend who lives there. This was the only proper hike I was able to get in. I had originally planned to head further north towards the Olympics, but since we had just done a family road trip up there the day before, I was kind of burned out from consecutive days of long drives. This hike was only a 20 min drive away and provided similar scenery. Not a hard decision to make.
Got my usual predawn early morning start, which this time included a breakfast from Jack in the Box sitting in my rental car. Got to the trailhead by 7:30am, which being further north and with cloudy weather meant it was still a predawn start. There was just enough light on the trail to not need the headlamp about 100' in. From the car across the parking lot to find a trail I had never been on, the headlamp was essential.
This hike has a lot of old growth, which I think basically means really tall trees. Lots of moss all over the trees. Also a lot of dead, reddish ferns, and/or other vegetation that I'm sure is usually very green in the summer. Mima Falls was about 2 miles in on the first trail, and it was a little underwhelming as an actual waterfall, but not bad. What we saw the day before made this kind of pale in comparison.
At the northwest end of the loop, the elevation gets the highest and there's a section where several of the trees had been cut and young trees had sprouted up. It appeared that there was harvesting here, which I know is done a lot in WA.
The rain was on and off throughout the hike, which I didn't mind at all with my raincoat. I was very dry at the end of the hike thanks to it. Weather was very cool, but not chilly. Needed gloves the first mile or two, but not after that. Very nice contrast from AZ weather conditions. Saw mostly trail runners at first, then as I was finishing up, groups of other hikers. Also saw some hunters with archery gear.
there is a sportsmen's club very near the trailhead that has a gun range. The online descriptions I found had reviews with a lot of complaints about this. For me hiking in AZ, this was something I'm very used to. This trail system is also used by equestrians. I had also read a lot of online review complaints about the horse dung everywhere, but I only saw a few spots. I think the muddy conditions and frequent rain may have helped alleviate some of that.
Finished up by noon, got lunch for the family at a local Vietnamese pho restaurant, and got things ready for the game and NYE the next day. |
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