BIG DARK IS OFFICIALLY OVER! Fake spring has arrived in the Pacific Northwest. It's sunny, not a cloud in the sky, and 70 degrees each day on the weekend in mid-March. Everyone knows this won't last, because it is of course, false spring, and we'll be back to rain and cooler temps very soon. As such, everyone simultaneously jumped out of their puffy winter coats and into their hiking pants. Forget the Vitamin D pills today, we all can just get outside!
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| Near the beginning of the trail |
And get outside they did. We initially planned on going to Wallace Falls State Park to do the Wallace Falls trail. We knew it would likely be busy but we tried anyway. We aimed to get to the parking area of the trailhead around 10-ish. As we approached it was obviously we were already too late. There were signs a few roads away saying "WALLACE FALLS PARKING FULL". We continued on towards the trailhead because who knows, maybe someone left. Then we saw cars parking on the side of the road almost a half mile away from the parking lot. Not a good sign. Once we got to the parking lot...it was indeed full. And there were several cars circling around for a spot. We became engulfed in the circle dance of looking for a spot for only a brief moment before a State Park employee told us all to leave "There's no parking here!!". Well that sucks. We just drove in from Seattle.
Thankfully we're in Washington on Route 2, nonetheless. There's good hikes EVERYWHERE. We saw there was another trail not even a half mile away called May's Creek Trail so we headed over there. It's a really small parking area off of a short road near Gold Bar, WA. There were maybe 7 or 8 other cars there, but if there wasn't we'd be a little weirded out parking there, it seemed almost like private land. And it wasn't marked well as trailhead parking either. There wasn't even really a trailhead sign. It's obvious that this is not a frequently traveled path! There are no bathrooms on site, FYI. Luckily I went at the Wallace Falls trailhead parking lot before we were pushed away.
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| Not far into the hike the trail crosses a logging road. Don't take the road, the trail continues beyond the road. |
Reading previous reviews of the trail, it seems that there has been upgrades and that it used to be a bit sketchier in the past. Oh well, we enjoyed it!
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| This is a logging area. Thankfully there are areas designated to not be cut. |