Mt Zion via the Deadfall Trail

We drove to FSR 28 near Quilcene to the Deadfall Trailhead to hike up to the viewpoints on Mt Zion, about 6.5 miles round trip with 2,550 ft of overall gain. We only saw one other hiker as we were coming down the trail. The trail was in great shape, very few trees on the trail.

More snow as we continued up the trail.

We saw quite a few squirrel prints in the snow, and

these small cat prints were on about 1 mile of the trail.

View of Mt Townsend from the first viewpoint, 

along with some other snowy peaks.

View of Mt Townsend from the second viewpoint, 

another Olympic other peaks to the southwest.

zoom of some peaks above the Dungeness River Valley

zoom to some peaks further to the west

We found some pine drops along the trail.

Hex Mountain

We drove out past Roslyn to hike up Hex Mountain, 7 miles round trip with 2,600 ft of gain. On this beautiful frosty day, we only saw 2 other hikers going up while we were coming down. There are lots of downed trees on the trail, particularly on the upper section. We moved lots of branches off the trail. 

We saw some golden western larches near the first part of the trail (Cle Elum Lake in the background).

There was lots of hoar frost in the trail this morning.

frost on rhododendron leaves

frost on dried foliage

a few more frosty golden larch trees

The frost made the scenery lovely

On the upper section of the trail, Cle Elum River in the valley below.

red huckleberry leaves in the snow

Almost to the top of Hex Mountain, it was windy today!

view to the northwest, Mt Daniel was hidden by the clouds 

view to the north

zooming in on Mt Stuart and other Enchantment Peaks to the north

zoom of Mt Stuart

View along Hex Mountain looking eastward

view to the south, Cle Elum Lake below

thick frost on fir needles 

On our way back down, we could see Mt Daniel out from the clouds (far right of photo)

 

Glacier Vista

Beautiful day to drive up to Paradise at Mt Rainier National Park and hike up to Glacier Vista in the snow, 2.7 miles round trip with 1,000 ft gain. The snow was well packed down.

View looking back towards the Tatoosh Range

Mt Rainier as we got closer.

Mt Rainier with the Nisqually Glacier below

3 ravens enjoying the view of Mt Adams behind the Tatoosh Peaks as we took a lunch break.

Another view of Mt Rainier as we headed back down.

Mt Adams, Mt Hood and Mt St Helens behind the Tatoosh Range

zoom of Mt Adams

zoom of Mt Hood

zoom of Mt St Helens

View of the Goat Rocks and Mt Adams behind the Tatoosh, lovely view to hike into on our way down.

 

Franklin Falls and the Denny Creek Water Slide

We drove to the Franklin Falls Trailhead off of FS 58 to hike up to Franklin Falls (2 miles round trip) and then to the Denny Creek Water Slide (3.25 miles round trip) for 5.25 miles and 750 ft of overall gain.
The trail to Franklin Falls follows the South Fork of the Snoqualmie River.

Little Red Cabin across the river

Icicles on the rocks

Frozen branch

Franklin Falls

Closer view of Franklin Falls

View down the river from the falls with some fall color.

From the Franklin Falls trailhead the road to the Denny Creek Trailhead is closed. We walked along the closed road to the trailhead crossing a bridge over the South Fork of the Snoqualmie River, view upstream from the bridge,

view downstream from the bridge

The snow along the Denny Creek Trail was a little deeper, but we found tracks in the snow that were easy to follow. There were some nice yellow leaves on the vine maples.

The trail enters the Alpine Lake Wilderness

Views of the Denny Creek Water Slide looking upstream

Downstream from the Water Slide on Denny Creek

It was getting cloudy when we headed back to the trailhead.