Keekwulee Falls

This morning we drove up to the Denny Creek/Franklin Falls parking lot to hike up Denny Creek to Keekwulee Falls and back, 4.2 miles with 900 ft of gain.

From the parking lot we hiked along the road to where it is now closed and crossed over the South Fork Snoqualmie River, view upstream and view downstream

We continued to the original Denny Creek Trailhead for a walk through a beautiful forest. Some of the views through the forest, including glimpses of Denny Creek

Views at the Denny Slide, where we easily crossed Denny Creek, first 2 photos looking upstream, 3rd photo looking downstream

As we continued up the trail opened up to some views of the peaks on either side of us

views of Keekwulee Falls

some of the wildflowers, berries and fungi we saw along the trail today:

Pratt Balcony

This morning we did two hikes in the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River area. Our second hike was to Pratt Balcony, 2.8 miles round trip with 600 ft of gain. Parkind is at the CCC Trail trailhead on the Middle Fork Road. The trail goes up the CCC Trail for about 1/2 mile, before turning to the right for the Pratt Climbing Area and the Pratt Balcony, there is no signage for the trail junction. The trail goes through a gorgeous forest up to the balcony where there are two different view areas. Views in the forest

The first viewpoint, looking across the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River to Russian Butte

The second viewpoint, looking through the trees towards Garfield Mountain, and a zoom of Garfield Mountain

We saw lots of hair ice and some fungi along the trail today

Heli and Gold Creek Ponds

This morning I drove up to the Gold Creek SnoPark to hike around both Heli Pond and Gold Creek Pond, 4.2 miles round trip. The snow was well packed down the entire route, so snowshoes were not used. The morning started cloudy, so I headed up the closed forest road to Heli Pond first.

Views around Heli's Pond

views around Gold Creek Pond

Gold Creek