Lake Twenty Two is located northeast of Seattle, near the Verlot ranger station. The trip to the start of the hike was an adventure in itself as there was a rollover accident just ahead of us on the freeway while we drove there. Our driver, Paul, did a remarkable job of not rearending the car ahead of as the freeway came an immediate and sudden stop. We didn't actually see the station wagon rolling over, but the tires were still spinning when we drove by. We called 911 to report the accident but did not pull over to help. There were already several cars pulled over with people running back to help the people in the accident.
The rest of the trip to the trailhead was relatively uneventful. I carpooled with Paul, Mike and Janeen. We were supposed to meet up with George and his wife at the trailhead, but due to some miscommunication and guessing incorrectly they were behind us in traffic instead of ahead of us, we ended up meeting them up at the lake.
While waiting around near the trailhead, we decided to do a little exploring of the river near the road. This photo shows the beach of river rock that we explored some. The leaves are starting to turn colors, lots of yellows and reds popping out.
It was very peaceful on the river, it would great to own a cabin and listen to the water running all day. Maybe this is the appeal of flyfishing. A couple of beach chairs and a good book would have made for a nice day out in the woods. But, we had a hike to do, so we wandered back to the trailhead to see if George had arrived. On the way back, this view of the sun through the moss covered trees struck me as the stereotypical hike in the northwest. It screams "Green!". Lots of moss, lots of evergreens and lots of ferns everywhere.
Lake Twenty Two is a reasonable hike, not too long, not too steep. One section of the trail openned up into this open area. This photo shows how the deciduous tress are starting to show their fall colors. When I took this picture, it was slightly cloudy. When the sun was out, the colors were even more impressive.
Near the lake end of the trail, we found George and his wife. They were on their way back down, after having waited for a while up at the lake for us. They returned to the lake with us and we sat on the boardwalk that has been built around the lake to keep the hikers up out of the mud (the whole trail had been very well maintained and improved, without the built up areas the whole hike would be through mud). This photo shows the lake itself. It was a nice alpine lake, surrounded on two sides by mountains that rose up from the edge of the lake. The cliffs looked like they would be fun to climb. The photo is somewhat hazy, it isn't obvious that the dark shadows in the background are actually the mountains that rise out of the water of the lake. The lake reminded me of some of the lakes in Glacier National Park.
That was last weekend, and now for this weekend....
Yesterday Mike, Janeen and I hiked up to Otter Falls. This is a hike off of I-90, basically directly east of Seattle. I found this hike on the web, in a newspaper article from 2002. The trail notes in the article mentioned bridges that were on the verge of collapse, trails nearly overgrown with brush, and large streams to force your way across. It sounded like it was going to be a bit adventurous getting to the falls. I spent the morning on the internet trying to find out more, and was amazed to find how much information is out there. There were several trip reports from this year and it reassured me to find out that the road to the trail had been improved and the trail had not been recovered by nature.
To improve my comfort level even more, I programed the trip into my GPS unit too.
We took my ancient Acura out on the 12 miles of gravel road to the trailhead. There was a moment where it seemed like history would repeat itself when we came across another auto that had veered off the road and was in the ditch. There was a Toyota pickup with its nose deep into the brush on the side of the road. We stopped and looked inside because it looked pretty fresh, but nobody was in the car. The truck wasn't damaged, it looked like it was just stuck. Somebody else must have stopped and given the driver a ride to the main road.
We made it to the trailhead parking lot without any further excitement. Along the trail, there was this big bridge. Looking at the big tree debris around the rocks under the bridge, this river must be really flowing during the winter snow melt. In September, it is nice and peaceful. Here are Janeen and Mike on the bridge.
And by turning around 180 degrees, here is a picture of the waterfall they were looking at...
The waterfall we were hiking to was slightly off the beaten track and wasn't mentioned on the trailhead signpost. Luckily the trusty GPS unit had a clear enough view of the sky to keep track of where we were. The trailnotes on the web said to turn into the woods at the "cairn" (pile of rocks that hikers build up to note where the trails are), near the "big creek" bridge. The trail crossed many bridges, so it was a little unclear which one was the one to look for. Trusting technology (and asking hikers heading back towards us on the trail), we kept going. And then we came along to this, and we were certain we had the right spot...
(some birds had made editorial comments on the word, but somebody painted "CAIRNS" on the rock. usually you have to guess which stacks of rocks were created by nature and which were created by man).
We headed into the woods on the very faint trail up the hill. We were a little concerned about heading off trail, but the woods were thin enough we could see the main trail, so we thought it was safe to explore a little. And just over a rise, we found Otter Falls...
Unfortunately, the summer has been pretty dry and there wasn't much water flowing. It was still an impressive sight. The photo doesn't do it justice, the big granite face that the water comes down is about 500 feet tall. Here a picture I found on the web while researching it...
...Now that I know where the falls are, I might make it a point to come back earlier in the season when the water is really flowing like in the second picture.
We weren't the only ones enjoying the view, a small water snake was hanging out on this branch of wood in the water, taking in the sun (you have look close, his camoflage works well).
Here is my last photo of the trip, of the brilliant colors starting to show up on the maples. The snow is starting to hit the higher mountains now. Pretty soon, the hikes will have to be lower in elevation, or involve snow shoes. Maybe this year will be the one where I finally get around to trying cross country skiing again.
