Boulder River Trail

Today’s choice for hikes was a good one!  It was supposed to rain, but there was just some intermittent sprinkling.  With the trees overhead, not much came through when it did rain, and at times the sun came out and lit the forest up.  The trail started out on an old logging road according to the write-up on the Washington Trails Association, although it is so overgrown and eroded, it was hard to imagine any logging trucks going anywhere past the parking area.  When I got there, there was only 1 car in the lot.  It was nice to not have to share the trail with too many people.

The first fun bit was a log going over the trail at a level you had to walk under it, in the bed of a little stream.  The water gurgled down the steep embankment and also followed the log, dripping and drizzling off all down it, so you had to walk under a curtain of tiny waterfall to continue up the path.  Adventure Dog was not thrilled. 

As the trail went on I could hear and sometimes see the Boulder River below…sometimes furiously tumbling in its bed, sometimes peacefully idling past dark wet rock cliff rock.   Then, pouring into the river from high high above, a narrow waterfall, cascading through the air and down the cliff to join the river.  It was lovely.

Not much further and there was breathtaking double falls.  These were larger and roared over the precipice above, crashing into the river at my feet.  I took a lot of pictures, but many blurred since Cedar was tugging impatiently on his leash. 

There were some massive old trees scattered amongst the other trees.  I tried to imagine what it must be like to have lived most of a millenia in that beautiful ravine. 

Then there was a 3^rd waterfall.  I think that makes this the hike the winner for me for Most Waterfalls.

I had read in the latest trip report that one person this month had been unable to complete this hike due to “big trees” being down.  Big was an understatement.  I couldn’t tell whether one old growth cedar had already been down when the other one crashed onto it, or if those two grand old sisters had come down together, but the trail disappeared at a huge root ball section, and huge segments of ancient tree lay broken in all directions against the slope.   They were incredibly huge and stretched way up and down the slope.  It took a lot of scrambling and surveying where it was possible to get between the trunk pieces, for they were too big to just climb over, especially at that angle.  There were a lot of trees down on the trail, and there usually are a few on most trails, but I have never seen old growth down.  A little further and there was a massive old fir across the trail as well.  I had to take the leash off of Cedar because different paths worked better for each of us and there were too many things for his leash to tangle in.  The only reason I had put it on really was because I thought I saw a couger footprint. 

The above really can't show the magnitude of those trees.  This is where the trail abruptly ends at a piece of rootball.  It was well over my head.
The trail went on and on, through quiet misty woods, the only sounds were birds singing and the varying music of the river. 

There were some patches of snow and some pretty muddy areas as well.  By the time the hike was over, I probably looked pretty scary with moss and bark in my hair from going over and under downed trees, and mud up to my knees.  I didn’t really remember I had packed my new gaiters until I was past the mud again.  : )  I’ll have to try them out another time.
I only saw one couple all the way in on the trail, as they were coming out after camping for the night.  I passed many hikers on my way back out though, and found the parking area full and cars parked all down the dirt road.