THREE HIKING SISTERS, we love to hike together, but we don't all live in the same state. Sometimes it is only two of us, and sometimes we hike with others. This is a record of some of our hikes.
After hiking along the Duckabush River to Big Hump, we drove a short distance further to the Murhut Falls Trailhead. This was 1.6 miles round trip with about 200 ft of gain. A small pond nest to the trail.
Smaller waterfalls downstream from Murhut Falls.
Murhut Falls near the end of the trail.
Murhut Falls from the end of the trail.
We drove up FSR 2510 to the Duckabush River Trail in the Eastern Olympics. We hiked up to Big Hump and back, 7.5 miles round trip with 1,800 ft of overall gain. Along the road we saw a herd of elk.
There were lots of small creeks along the way, some crossing over the trail.
Here are two of the creek crossings on the early part of the trail.
Small waterfall
A large split mossy boulder near the trail.
Near the top of Little Hump, the trail enters the Brothers Wilderness.
We saw this large patch of bright red Oregon Grape along the trail.
We had glimpses of nearby peaks through the trees.
The beautiful blue Duckabush River
View of St Peter's Dome from the switchbacks going up Big Hump
zoom of St Peter's Dome
weeping wall
View of St Peter's Dome to the west from a viewpoint part way up Big Hump
View to the east from the viewpoint
The clouds moved in as we continued up Big Hump
There isn't much of a view on the trail at the top of Big Hump, but it was pretty with the new dusting of snow.
Cloudy views as we hiked back down the trail.
Huge mossy covered exposed tree roots along a dry creek.
Another view of the Duckabush River
We drove up to the Gold Creek SnoPark to snowshoe up to Kendall Knob, this was 8 miles round trip with 1.800 ft of gain. The closed road over Coal Creek has eroded even more from last winter. There is only room for one person to walk across at a time.
View of Coal Creek looking east from the road
View of Coal Creek looking west from the road 
There was quite a bit of fresh snow. The first 3 miles or so was packed down well enough that we did not use our snowshoes. The route follows the old forest road through the forest.
There are some open spaces with views along the way. Looking south towards Summit Central Ski area.
View to the southwest and Denny Mountain
Another view with Denny mountain in the distance
I love seeing fresh snow covering the forest.
Kendall Peaks, several people had snowshoed towards Kendall Peaks Lakes, but I was sinking enough in the snow that I felt more comfortable with snowshoes on.
Another view of Kendall Peaks 
Instead of going to the snow covered lakes, we continued along the closed road towards Kendall Knob. We broke trail for about 0.25 miles.
zoom of Mt Rainier
Heading back down the trail
Looking up the side of the mountain , we saw fresh signs of a couple of small avalanches.
We drove up to the Pipe Creek SnoPark near Blewett Pass to snowshoe up through Swauk Meadows to a hill top we like, over around the Swauk Discovery Loop Trail and then back down the way we came. Overall, 6.7 miles with 1,100 ft gain. We saw 4 others on the Swauk Discovery Loop Trail. A quiet day. View along the way up toward Swauk Meadows from Pipe Creek.
View of Diamond Head, we stayed off the ski tracks.
We went across some untracked areas and found this larch tree which had not yet shed it's needles.
View of Diamond Head to the southeast from the hill top
View of some Enchantment Peaks to the northwest from the hill top
We took a bit of a steeper route down from the hill top this trip, then headed over to do the Swauk Discovery Loop trail.
We went clockwise along the Swauk Discovery Loop Trail. Here looking over to the hill top that has the nice views.
View of Diamond Head
a snowy pine drop
View towards the Enchantment Peaks through the trees
zoom of the Enchantment Peaks
Some cute little snow covered trees along the trail,
and a couple more golden larches covered in snow.
A frosty tree as we neared the Pipe Creek SnoPark on our way back.
Some water under the snow that was exposed, this was off and below the trail.
