Franklin Falls

So, snowshoeing was a win that one time I went.  Why not go again?

This time there were no snowshoes.  Lots of snow, though!

I called this adventure "spiking".  Clearly I have no idea what real hikers call this adventure.  Whatever it was, we had hiking boots on and spikes attached to them because this location had snow that was so packed down that it was a little hard and icy.  Spikes helped us to walk like close-to-normal people on the trails.  

This time we hit up Franklin Falls about an hour from Seattle.  It was a warmer day, so the snow on the trees was melting like crazy and my raincoat came in very handy.  I felt very prepared to live here in hiking boots and a raincoat.

Franklin Falls is one of many I-90 hikes.  Once again, pretty well known and super well traveled because I'm a beginner outdoorswoman.  We learned from last time and parked at the first chance we got instead of driving all the way in on the narrow road.  This meant about a mile walk before finding the trailhead, and then about another .5 miles before getting to the trail.  The trail itself was only about a mile (2 mile roundtrip).  Of course in hiking world that feels like 3 miles each way, but I'm getting used to that...

Here ^^, I peered over a tiny cliff to take this picture of running water.  It really was scarier than it appears.

We scaled a wall of rocks (suddenly shoe spikes were the greatest invention ever) before landing in the final location and checking out the waterfall (see the Snoqualmie Pass up there??  Who knew there was a waterfall down below!)

^^The wall of rocks on the left.  That trail doesn't look so scary from this picture, but it was basically all ice and I clung to the wall just a tiny bit...

 Look, a waterfall!  I think in the summer you can walk right up to it, but since there was so much snow, that was a bit trickier.  And, you know, cold.

Of course, the hike back is half the time and so much easier.  Plus our parking was on point this time around!  Not a bad Saturday.