May 12, 2018
In celebration of another sunny weekend we took a hike to Otter Falls over in North Bend. The trailhead is a little over an hour drive from home. The actual trailhead is currently closed to cars so we had to park about 0.5 miles down the way. There's plenty of room for parking, but no facilities. I think normally you would need a NW Forest Pass, but there was no signage and no other cars were displaying their passes.
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| I know, Toby. Two hikes, two weekends in a row?! Wow. |
At 11 miles RT, I was a tad nervous for Toby. This would be his longest hike to date and it was pretty warm out. I had little to worry about, though. Most of the hike was under tree cover and there were plenty of yummy streams for Toby to drink from. We also passed by several prime, unoccupied campsites along the river.
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| Wide trail nearly the whole way and in the shade |
With minimal elevation gain (like maybe 500' over the whole trip) Andy and I were able to do some light jogging here and there. The trail itself was well maintained and generally very wide. Prepared wearing our quick drying vibrams, we crossed through streams and diversions without worrying about getting our feet wet or falling in. From now on we're just going to run through streams and creeks. Makes hiking a lot easier and more fun! At the highest we got in about knee to thigh deep at the falls. We wanted to get around a boulder to an area no one else was sitting. It was also in the sun while everyone else was in the shade. If it was warmer out we certainly would've jumped in.
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| View from our spot at Otter Falls. I was testing this clip-on lens thing Andy found, hence the black corners. |
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| Cheers! |
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| Lunch spot at the falls |
After a light lunch and beers we headed back the way we came. Not including our lunch break it took us 90 minutes to hike to the falls and another 90 minutes to get back to the parking lot. Not too shabby!
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| Hiking along the river |
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| Taylor River |
Of course we went to No Boat Brewing Co. in Snoqualmie for après-hike. It's an awesome space with a large outdoor area that's dog-friendly. Support WA beer!
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| Post-hike beer is best beer |
