Cherry Creek Falls

May 29, 2017

This was the first Memorial Day weekend Andy and I have been home for in 5 years and boy, was it a good one. You really can't beat summer weather in Seattle.

The three of us woke up bright and early Monday morning and hit the trail to Cherry Creek Falls at 7:10 AM. We were the only car in the area with the exception of a mountain biker who was on his way out. This was the perfect hike to take Toby on. The trail was wide nearly the whole way (wide enough for me to walk next to Andy) and it's an easy one at 450 ft. elevation gain. Directions from WTA's website were spot on and helpful because of all the split-offs, but the main trail is pretty obvious and easy to follow. The side trails either had sticks across them or some growth indicating they were less travelled.

My handsome boys

Wide open spaces

The past week of warm, sunny weather helped dry out any muddy areas. There were no obstacles we had problems with - just some slugs and piles of horse manure. Towards the end of the hike there were a couple logs to help cross over shallow Hannah Creek. After crossing the creek we took a right and followed the sound of the falls. We had the place to ourselves and Toby had a blast splashing around.

Cherry Creek Falls

Such happiness

Hello!

After having some snacks we headed out and passed a half dozen groups hiking in. We were out of the trail by 10 AM and by that time Mountain View Road had turned into a parking lot. Looks like many bicyclists park along that road and ride around the area to Woodinville and whatnot.

Sleeping Giant (& Waimea Canyon), Kauai

May 20, 2017

Our first trip to The Garden Island was full of exploring, happy hours, eating, drinking, and relaxing. We planned to do a couple hikes, but ended up hiking only to Sleeping Giant due some trailhead closures on the island.

We arrived at the East Trail trailhead around 7 AM. From the lot we were able to get a good view of our goal for the morning:

Sleeping Giant

I'd consider the hike easy to moderate. The weather had been sunny for a few days already, so we didn't encounter any slippery rocks or clay. We were warned many times that hiking this trail after or during a rain could be dangerous due to the clay soils. Actually, I think that's the case for most of the trails on the island.

Rewarding views for relatively little work

An open grassy area with a picnic shelter, tables, and benches was a nice area to catch my breath before making the final scramble up to the nose.


Picnic shelter

At the top!

Views from the top were amazing. My legs were literally shaking, though, because I'm not very confident with heights without guardrails. Took most of my photos from a kneeling position!

On the last day of our trip we drove up to see Waimea Canyon. I wish we had more time as there were many hikes in the area.


Waimea Canyon aka Grand Canyon of the Pacific



Canyonero!