Middle Fork Snoqualmie River

Saturday we went on a hike to the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River.  Like a couple of the trails we have been on recently this is also located near North Bend, Washington.  After exiting the paved road there is a ten or eleven-mile dirt road to the large parking area at the trailhead.  The dirt road had recently been graded but even so it was bumpy and had several big chuckholes.

It was a lovely, warm, sunny day with more people out walking and lots of dogs both on leash, as they are supposed to be, and off leash.  Some of the dogs (or perhaps the owners?) were better behaved than others.  The Washington Trail Association was out working on the trail in places doing general maintenance and repair.   This is a popular hiking spot and the trail is kept in good condition.  In the photo above I am standing on the bridge over the river with all the beautiful woods around.   We covered 4.6 miles round trip, my longest one yet, and gained about 400 total feet of elevation by the time we got back to the parking lot.  The trail is a gentle rise and fall, no really steep places.  There was a little mud and the usual rocks and roots to navigate over or around. 

View from the bridge

Lots and lots of Trilliums in bloom, thousands of native Lily of the Valley not yet in bloom, Coltsfoot, skunk cabbage (we could smell it before we saw it), Elderberry, Salmon Berry, getting ready to bloom were Fairy Bells, Solomon’s Seal and others.  One tree was completely covered in moss.

Moss covered tree. 

These Trilliums are white but will turn purple like the picture below as they finish blooming.

 

Clumps of these little yellow stream violets were everywhere.

Native Bleeding Heart

 

Coltsfoot

Skunk Cabbage

 

 Native Lily of the Valley covered almost every inch of open space.  In a few weeks it will all be full of white flowers. 

Moss grew on the trees and the ground in places, ferns growing everywhere too.

 

In places the trail was right along the river and had spectacular views like this one of Garfield Mountain.  Or the picture below it of a cliff side with trees seeming to grow right out of the rock.  

The trail was about this width most of the way.

It may be closed to motor vehicles but we did have to make room for a couple of mountain bikes. 

Blurry Bob. 

By this time my camera battery was dead and I used my phone to take a picture.  The trail is very pretty through the trees but my phone photos invariably turn out blurry because of movement on my part I think; nevertheless, the blurry photo still gives a glimpse of what it is like.  The small low growing plants along the trail are Lily of the Valley.  The hillside is covered in moss.