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.

The trail starts off flat and wide and stays that way for around twenty minutes, when you enter the Boulder River Wilderness. The left edge of the trail butts up to mossy vertical rock and the river is off to the right. The trail then narrows a bit, and climbs briefly. Just a few minutes after that, we reached the first falls. I snapped a few pictures, and then we moved on to the larger falls (which I’ve seen referred to as Feature Show Falls) a few yards further, where a group of ~10 people were just moving on.

Feature Show Falls and Boulder River.

River, rocks, and waterfall.

Tributary.

Nicole sat on a perfectly placed bench while I took the small, steep side trail down to the base of the falls and set up my tripod. My widest wide-angle just fit everything in. Conscious that I’d left Nicole waiting, I only spent ~twenty minutes taking photos. At 11:20, we continued.

What Nicole looked like while I took pictures.

After the falls, the trees get a bit bigger and the trail gets rockier and ruttier, and gains minimal elevation. Here we started to see some snow on the side of the trail, but very little on the trail itself. After ~twenty minutes, a gradual decline, and the opening of trees to the sky, we arrived at a third falls, where the large group of hikers occupied themselves. We decided not to stop, planning only to do so for a quick photo on the way back out.

Patches McSnow.

More mud and patches of snow, like the above, followed. We hadn’t planned on going very far, and I had no real sense of the distance that we had gone, so when we came to a moderate blowdown at about 12:00, it was as good as any excuse to call it an early day. The blowdown isn’t really an issue–the trail obviously skirts around the uphill side–but from what I’d read the trail just sort of peters out at an old ford of the river, so we weren’t driven onward to any particular goal.

Blowdown beyond the third waterfall turns away the lazy.

We turned around and began the walk back. We moved over for the group that I believe was some sort of guided tour and let them pass. I took a snapshot of the third falls and the way out was uneventful aside from the multitude of families and dogs. We’d seen almost no one on the way in, but the way out was constant foot-and-paw-traffic.

What I like to call The Third Falls.

Just after 13:00, we were back to the Forester, boots off and glad that we weren’t parked in–there were now cars parked at the side of the road quite far from the trailhead. All-in-all, it was a pleasant Sunday hike, with some good waterworks requiring minimal effort. It was nice to get some mud on our boots (and our car) and check one off the list. I definitely recommend it for an easy, family hike, and encourage you to get there early, or on a weekday, or both, if you want anything resembling solitude.

An hour-and-a-half to get there, ~2:30 on the trail and taking pictures, maybe ~4 or ~5 miles round-trip and ~500’ of elevation gain. I would like to go back and find the end of the trail. Maybe next Spring.

As always, a few more photos at Flickr.

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.

For the first fifteen minutes or so, the trail follows the river, which is rocky and clear with its promise of waterfalls in the distance.  The trail then turns away from the river and works its way up a hundred feet or so through three or four moderate switchbacks.  I confess: I was surprised!  I imagined a walk in the park, but ended up getting a little bit of a workout.  At the top of the switchbacks there’s a set of benches and your first view of Twin Falls in the distance.  This spot is apparently ~.75 miles in, and reached fairly quickly.  Up to this point I’d seen two or three people (and their dogs) on the way out.  It was fairly quiet.

The trail drops down again immediately, losing much of the elevation just gained, but it’s only several minutes before you’re climbing again, up several more switchbacks that bring you within earshot of I-90 above.  At 10:20 there’s a large spur to the right, which drops down via a good number of steps to a wooden lookout with views of the falls.  Alone, I set up my tripod and busied myself taking photos for a good 20 minutes, then headed back up the stairs.

As viewed from the lookout.

Up the stairs and a few minutes further, you’ll cross a small creek and find yourself on a large bridge right over the river, with views upstream toward what I suppose are the middle falls.  There’s three distinct falls: the lower falls, seen from the viewpoint; the middle falls, seen from the bridge; and the upper falls, which I’d yet to see, and which you can’t really get a great look at from the trail.  After a few minutes on the bridge, I continued on.

Middle falls from the bridge; upper falls visible in the distance.

After the bridge, which is ~1.5 miles from the parking lot, the trail climbs a bit more, past partial views of the upper falls (which I didn’t even bother taking a picture of).  I climbed for several minutes, wondering if there’d be anything interesting, and cursing myself for not taking a photo of the map at the trailhead.  At 11:00, I reached a level patch and decided I may as well turn around.  I knew that the Twin Falls trail eventually met up with the Iron Horse trail, but I had no intention of making a long hike out of it.  I figured I’d head back and try to find another viewpoint of the large lower falls further downstream than the provided overlook.

Back down river, I worked my way along the hillside and dropped down onto a rock outcropping with a different perspective of the falls.  This spot was 20-30 feet down on three sides, so I cautiously dropped to my knees and spent several minutes taking photos.  You can how the view is different; but for the most part, the provided, safe overlook is plenty good.

From off-trail. I was able to include the bridge in the shot.

At 11:45, I was back on the trail proper and on my way to the parking lot.  At noon, I was sitting in the car eating my sandwich.  And I was back in Seattle before 13:00.  Four hours door-to-door, and I managed to get in ~four miles of hiking and spent a bunch of time taking long-exposure photographs.  It was a good morning.  As always, an extra photo or two at Flickr.