Stegosaurus Butte

We needed a short hike today, so we went out to the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River to hike up to Stegosaurus Butte (2 miles round trip with 1,000 ft gain) then continued along the Pratt River Connector Trail until it was time for us to return.
The trail begins by crossing the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River on this beautiful pedestrian bridge.

view downstream

view upstream

Across the bridge we turned to the right take the Pratt River Connector Trail and soon entered the Alpine Lakes Wilderness.

1/4 mile from the bridge there is an unmarked trail on the left heading up Stegosaurus Butte.

Part way up the trail we had a brief view of Bessemer Mountain to the south.

This trail is steep and was very muddy and slippery in a few places.

Preacher Mountain and the Pulpit from Stegosaurus Butte

Garfield Mountain from Stegosaurus Butte

Lots of lovely greens on this trail!

We returned to the Pratt River Connector Trail and continued for about 1-1/2 miles. We soon reached the bridge over Rainy Creek.

Rainy Creek

At one spot along the trail there had been several large trees blown down (not on the trail) which opened the area for views. Bessemer Mountain to the south and

Garfield Mountain behind us.

There are several streams crossing the trail,

some very small,

and others a bit larger, all were easy to cross.

view of the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River

large boulder with small cave at the base

glimpse of a distant peak

We turned around at a spot where the trail is close to the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River
This was a very enjoyable morning hike on a cloudy day.