Source Lake and Franklin Falls

Avid hikers
and Franklin Falls

On September 8, I lamented on this blog that so far this summer I had failed to do any mountain hiking, but expressed the hope that I'd get in one hike with Pat M. before it was too late.  This entry, therefor, is not an essay but simply a reassurance -- to you, and to myself in future readings -- that we succeeded.

We did two hikes today, actually. 

The first was to Source Lake, near Snoqualmie Pass.  The hike takes off using the trail to Snow Lake, departing from the Alpental ski area parking lot.  We did the hike to Snow Lake last year,  and I commented on it herein.  A little over half way to Snow Lake, the trail to Source Lake branches off to the west.  The trail is not steep, but it is quite rugged underfoot, as it crosses a large number of avalanche chutes.  The trail through these chutes has been smoothed out nicely on the Snow Lake portion of the trail, but requires careful attention and balance once you're on the spur to Source Lake.

The trail became faint on a ridge high above the lake, and we didn't try to descend to the water.  The views were magnificent, made only more beautiful by layers of fog.  We had lunch, and then returned to the trailhead.  Round trip is reportedly 4.1 miles; elevation gain 1,013 feet.

We then drove to the Denny Creek trailhead, and did an easy hike to Franklin Falls.  Mainly because  Pat likes to check off hikes on a list he keeps!  The trail is extremely well maintained, with fencing wherever there is any drop-off exposure -- until the last descent to the bottom of the falls, which is over steep and potentially slippery rocks with no hand holds. 

But the falls were impressive.  Not Yosemite impressive, but more so than I expected.  The view was marred only slightly by what appeared to be an overpass for I-90 high above and off to one side of the falls, but I didn't really even notice it until we were about to leave.  The trail was much less frequented than the earlier Snow Lake trail, but it would be an excellent trail for beginners -- both nice scenery en route, and an impressive destination.

The trail is signed at one mile (two miles round trip), but it seemed a bit farther.  Together with the Source Lake hike, we allegedly hiked 6.1 miles, but my iPhone told me we had actually hiked 7.5 miles.  Some of that extra mileage consisted of some hiking, especially on the Franklin Falls hike, from the parking lot to the formal beginning of the trail.  Elevation gain was minimal.

Good day for hiking in mid-September, when the temperatures were cool, but not yet cold.  Pat and I hope to get in one more hike this year, probably in early November, after we have both returned from our respective travels.