Boulder River, 04/19/09

We both wanted to get out of the house and take advantage of the [accurately] forecasted weather. With Spring just beginning in earnest and Nicole feeling less than one-hundred percent, we needed something both low and easy. I’d read of Boulder River in multiple sources, where it’d been referred to as, alternately, an early-season hike and a rainy day hike, and so we decided to make it our first “official” hike of the year.

I let Nicole sleep a little later than I normally would’ve, but we were out the door a little before 08:45 and on the road shortly after filling up the Forester. Directions were easy: I-5 North to WA-530 and a right on French Creek Road. Blink and you’ll miss French Creek Road, though–we nearly did. It’s just past a few newly developed homes; that’s probably very little help.

Nicole on the Boulder River Trail.

In any case, we reached the trailhead at the end of the road at 10:25, ten minutes after turning off WA-530. There were only four or five other cars in the parking lot. After booting up, we were off.

Twin Falls State Park, 02/04/09

Woke up on a Wednesday with an itch to get out for a hike and take some photos.  Since it was a last-minute decision, and it is February, I wanted to find something close.  Since I haven’t hiked in over three months, I wanted to find something easy.  A visit to Twin Falls seemed to fit the criteria.

The Twin Falls.

Twin Falls State Park is just off of I-90 near North Bend, under an hour from Seattle.  I figured I’d take advantage of the morning’s overcast sky and take some long-exposure waterfall photos.  After packing my bag and making a sandwich, I left West Seattle at 09:00.  Forty-five minutes later I was in the parking lot, along with only four other cars–a great sight, made possible only by my midweek day off.  I was on the trail at 09:50.