My Pacific Northwest: Franklin Ghost Town Hike 04-16-2017

I was saddened a couple weeks ago when I looked at my blog and realized it was time for the Franklin Ghost Town hike and I hadn't really done many other hikes. I have re-dedicated myself to the outdoors and hiking, and hope to get back to my adventuring. Cedar and I are practicing by hiking along a slough of the Snohomish at 3 miles roundtrip a few times a week.

Last weekend found me back at Franklin. I had a gorgeous view of Mt Rainier on the drive down, but once I started my hike clouds blocked any hope of a photo of it. At least it wasn't raining.

We surprised this robin which was building a nest.

The coal mine shaft, 1000 ft deep

While nothing remains of houses or stores, there are still foundations of the various mine buildings.

I think this part of the trail is permanently muddy

Cedar and I sat here to eat our lunch on the way back out

Bleeding hearts were starting to bloom

Here is a neat little snail. I wonder if he's the same little guy I had in my blog from last year, haha.

The Franklin cemetery is beyond the mine shaft and through the deciduous woods. The ground and trees are choked with thick old ivy vines and daffodils and wildflowers bloom. Some of the people buried here were killed in the Franklin Mine Disaster, a fire which left 37 people dead in August of 1894. You can read more about it here http://www.historylink.org/File/9165

I go to visit James and Romulus. I am not sure if it is their names that draw me- I have Jameses in the family and love the name Romulus- or if it was because I have two boys myself, that I hope outlive me by a long long time. Either way, I like to think that as a mother, I would be at peace to know that over a hundred years after the death of my children that they were not forgotten. I'm not the only one either, as I saw the stems of daffodils and bleeding hearts on most of the graves there.