Snoqualmie Region

Location Description

Sub-locations

168 photos

On Saturday, Diana and I drove to North Bend, WA (near...
A map of the area, in case we got lost. We were...
Near the parking lot was a pile of walking sticks to...
Diana takes a picture of what might be Mount Si -- a...
Woohoo, a bridge! Turns out the wooden-ness of this is...
Diana with the waterfall that ran under the fake wooden bridge.
The waterfall by itself. There was a great pool just...
Catherine + waterfall.
Diana by another stream crossing, this one without a bridge.
Finding a way...
Making my way across the stream.
We had been told there would be obvious cairns in the...
We had been told of the pile of rocks at the turn. ...
First glimpse of the falls!
My first peek at Otter Falls. I found the trail by...
Otter Falls!
The waterfall is supposedly 1600 ft, total (...
I can just imagine otters slip-sliding down this. ...
Diana stands at the edge of Lipsy Lake, into which Otter...
One corner of the falls.
Hey look, there's a big rock; guess who tried to go climb it.
Woohoo, success! As expected, getting down was harder...
Staring in wide wonder at the gorgeous falls.
A girl from the sailing group said that she has climbed...
Diana being silly.
A part of the giant pile of logs that essentially formed...
We spent a while just looking at the falls. My love...
It was surprisingly hard to get good photos because of...
I tried to balance on a log and basically failed......
An attempt at whimsey. My forehead sure is wrinkly.
Diana "Vanna-White"s the waterfall well.
Pondering the nearby, as it were.
Zoomed-in view of the top of the falls.
Attempt #3 (I spare you the others) at...
Only as we headed back to the main trail did we find the...
And, a great log to rest the camera on for a time-delay photo.
Walking back to the main trail. If there are shorts...
See -- fake wooden bridge. Steel support beams (though...
It started raining in the last mile or so of the trail,...
The weather has not been on my side this summer. My...
The building on the top is a hotel - the Salish Lodge.
The Falls are rather incredible - 268 ft tall and just...
Construction in the background has to do with harnessing...
On the observation deck. The falls are very accessible...
There is a lot of construction going on right now, and...
Jay did some research and found that while the highest...
Jay + waterfall.
AECOM is/was in charge of the renovations to the site,...
A map of the entire complex.
Hey, a Canadian flag! I swear, this is the first time...
After getting turned back in North Bend by rain last...
Hiking from the parking lot to the start of the Mailbox...
I accidentally walked into Diana's picture of the...
Hrm. Another dangerous trail. Maybe we should start...
Topo of the route we took. Here's my GPS tracker:...
Diana navigates some mud at the trailhead.
Catherine hiking up the trail. I guess Diana's camera...
See, look, the clouds are clearing! It's going to be a...
The trail was very steep and slow-going.
Diana poses for a picture.
Hiking uphill. Notice how I'm basically stair-stepping up.
And again. I am glad that Jay and I did not try this in...
Note that two hours have passes since the last photo. ...
We had finally broken out of the thick woods and had...
Now, about views... we did not have those.
Wandering off into the cloud.
Seeing these rock fields was a relief - the guidebook [...
A cool old dead stump.
Looking out on what must be a gorgeous view on a clear day.
I think the rock fields would have been even cooler if...
Signs at the bottom indicated that many parties got lost...
Diana hikes through an even more open area, with more flowers.
The final push for the summit was through a nice field...
Apparently this is the best time of year for wildflowers.
Hiking through the fog.
Hey, a mailbox! And very low visibility.
Diana at the top!
Summit marker.
At the top!
Signing my name.
Diana writes her name in the summit register (kept in...
Our view, to the east.
Or maybe it was to the west. I have no idea.
Our names are proof we were there! Note, however, the...
Inside the mailbox was a Baby Mailbox. Inside it, of...
Cam and Cari left a sign saying they survived Mailbox...
I found the tallest rock and stood on it. Success! The...
Diana scopes out the vast world before her... or the 20...
I'm not sure we're really happy we made it as much as...
Heading back down!
Note the smiles and joking! Downhill, woo!
We were chatting and being happy (especially once back...
Looking up into the trees.
An hour has passed since the happy joking smiles. ...
This picture and the last were taken while resting on a...
This was our only picture-with-view, taken at the same...
OHMYGOSHYESWEDIDITWE'REBACK! We actually had another...
Wouldn't it be nice without all those clouds...
I don't think I've ever been so happy to see the car!
Headed back to town. Unfortunately, Diana had evening...
Mount Si, as seen from the McDonald's parking lot in...
Catherine and Diana set off on the Mount Si trail in...
The trail is short but a bit steep - 4.0 mi one way with...
Diana heads up the trail, with a funny-looking tree...
It was sometimes pretty, but got boring.
At some point, a lack of drive, a blister, concern about...
Looking up into the tree tops.
(Please excuse the power lines, this was taken while...
Josh, Chrissy, and Catherine before a day of skiing at...
I should probably preface this by saying this was my...
Supposedly the views from this place are great!
I think this was about as good as it got before the...
Chrissy skiing down some trail on the skier's right side...
This is me, re-learning how to ski.
And obviously looking awesome doing so.
A friend and coworker from UT came to visit family in...
At the Rachel Lake Trailhead.
This made us worry a bit about the popularity of the...
Interestingly, a group bigger than 12 is welcome come...
The trail is in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness in the...
Using the timer function to get a photo with a waterfall...
Andrew investigates some trail maintenance.
Looking up where we're headed. The trail is described as...
Halfway through the steep section there was an...
Also, there was a frog. I'm looking at it.
See?
Bonus points if you can still spot it.
First views of Rachel Lake. We could not have asked for...
Looking the other way.
The water was beautifully clear.
Now, having hiked 4 miles and it being hot and there...
Although given that it was very cold water, it did take...
Trying to breathe in the cold cold water.
It still felt absolutely awesome, though.
There's a website popular this summer called "Hot-Dog...
We continued hiking from Rachel Lake to Rampart Ridge...
On the trail above Rachel Lake.
I'm intrigued to know if these berries are poisonous. ...
Berries and Rachel Lake.
Looking down at Rachel Lake.
We were swimming at the furthest left beachy area visible.
Andrew above Rachel Lake (representing FSEL, yay!).
Path, lake, mountains.
Anyone know what this kind of rock is?
One of the first of the Rampart Lakes we came upon.
Another Rampart Lake. There were probably four or five...
Crazy green moss in a creek between lakes.
Another Rampart Lake.
Self-photo with a Rampart Lake.
One lake had an accessible island, so I claimed it as my...
Andrew surveys the yonder. We would later learn that we...
More lake views. I love alpine lakes.
No such thing as too many lakes.
I could have hung out at these lakes and swum for days...
But I took more pictures as we went, for sure.
A stream between the lakes.
Having been told that Mt Rainier could be seen by going...
We could see Rachel Lake below us, though, and could see...
A poor panorama attempt (I tried twice and made the same...
Wildflowers and distant mountains.
Andrew looking down towards Rachel Lake after we finally...
Some brave soul had swum well out into Rachel Lake. Brr!
Passing by Rachel Lake, it was again impossible not to...
Water-level view of the lake.
Another try.
Pondering the watery yonder.
Meanwhile, Andrew's shoes had basically fallen apart...
Final shot before we head back down the four miles to...