Lake Serene 05-05-19

AppleWatch Stats:  8.84 miles RT, 2651 ft of elevation gain.

Well, I got in both distance and elevation with this classic hike off of Hwy 2.  I couldn't have asked for nicer weather - not too hot, but gloriously sunny.  I left Cedar and Luna at home as this would have been quite a push for them.  With the number of people on the trail, it's easier solo as well.  I was trying out these new socks by Injinji that came with sock liners that have individual toes to keep you from getting blisters in between.  I thought it might be annoying to have something between my toes, but they were quite comfortable, and I didn't get any blisters.  My stubby toes felt as comfy as swaddled babies. lol

Usually I skip the Bridal Veil Falls overlook, which is a 1/2 mile up stairs and incline, then back to the main trail, but this time I took that side trip.  It was worth it!  Also, like the WTA site says, do it on the way up.  No way will I ever want to add another mile by the time I get to that point on the way down.

The trail wanders through the sunny woods for the first couple miles, then it starts going up.  Quite a lot of the way up to the lake involves stairs - big wooden stairs, big rock stairs.  This hike is a great workout.

About halfway up, a man passed me from behind and said I was nearing switchback 9 - that there are 23 of them and then a 17 minute walk.  I had never counted these switchbacks, but around 13, I lost interest.  There are too many cool trees to look at, and I needed to move a little millipede off the trail so she wouldn't get flattened.

Then there were the views here and there of the valley below and the hills in the distance.

Plus more waterfalls, and streams to pick my way across.

And sooo many people!  I definitely want to do this hike in bad weather and/or start at 6am.  On the way down it's the worst because upcoming have the right of way and I had to step aside so many times, my Apple Watch thought my workout was over and kept pausing.

Once you come out of all those switchbacks at the top though, the sheer rock faces adorned with ice and snow just take your breath away and energize you all at once.

Once I made my way to the lake, I took a couple pictures of the lovely Lake Serene and then headed to lunch rock.  There I munched my PB&J sandwich and took some more photos.  There were a couple quiet little avalanches up in the crags. Just a slight rumble and then more snow and water would spew out over the precipice, giving extra volume to the waterfalls for a few moments before subsiding.

One good thing about having a lot of people on the trail - you can usually find someone to take a photo of you!  : )

The icy breeze coming off the water combined with the sunshine on the giant boulder to make the absolute perfect temperature.  I didn't want to leave.  I watched an ant carrying a butterfly wing for a bit and was entertained by the various snatches of conversation I heard around me.

On the way back down, I enjoyed the views again - of the Skykomish River below, the falls through the trees.  I also paid more attention to the wildflowers that were blooming - more trillium, bleeding hearts and violets, as well as this - mountain ash? The devil's clubs were just unfurling their spiny leaves, and the ferns' fiddleheads were starting to stretch up and become fronds.

I was surprised, as I passed under part of the large falls, to see two girls in long gauzy formal type dresses posing in the spray!  They had a bunch of people taking photos, so I didn't and just snapped one last one of the falls with the light making the spray shine like crystal.

Lake Serene 09-15-2018

I was lamenting the weekend's forecast for rain, and a friend of mine said, "Tina, you live in the northwest - get your rain gear on and hike anyway!"  I don't mind a shower, just don't love a downpour out there, so I hoped for the best today and headed out with my adventure dogs to Lake Serene.

On the way through Sultan I saw a coyote trotting down the railroad tracks.  Last time I saw a coyote on the way to the trail head, it was one of the best hikes ever, so I took this as a good portent.

I got out to the trailhead before 8:30am and there were plenty of parking spaces left.  The trees were dripping, but the sky wasn't, and mist was rising here and there amongst the hills, so it was really a beautiful northwest fall day.  The first mile and a half or so of this hike, while climbing slightly, is flat compared to the rest.  This hike was closed all summer due to logging in the area - you could see where they had been from the trail.

We skipped the stairs to the waterfall viewing area and headed straight for the lake.  The mossy trees were so green and beautiful.

Although we skipped the waterfall overview, there is still a lower view of the falls that we enjoyed.  Also there were other falls further up the trail.

I had forgotten how many stairs were on this trail! And boulders and stone steps!  Up, up, up!  Cedar and Luna sprung up them like they were both puppies on springs.  Lucky things with four legs instead of two.

Once we cleared the stair stepper switchbacks through the trees, we could enjoy misty views of the peaks surrounding us, as well as the fall colors of the devils club and vine maple leaves.

The lake was a lovely turquoise color and we enjoyed watching the rain start to come down again and dimple the surface as we ate our lunch.

On the way back down, at the base of the falls again, I met a couple people with two dogs and the husky really seemed especially curious and pretty and soft.  She sat between two trees as we walked up and looked like some dog out of a story book.  She reminded me of a white husky I had met on this trail 7 yrs ago who stepped out of the mist at a switchback looking like a white wolf, but also very sweet.  I chatted for a moment and then went on.  They later passed me, and when they did the man seemed familiar too.  I didn't think I would catch up, but they stopped to talk to a ranger and I did catch up then and asked the man if he had a white husky on that trail back in 2011 - he had given me advice for my attempt at climbing Mount Rainier.  He said, "That was Misty!"  It WAS him.  Such a small world.  We talked about hiking for a bit, and then we all went our separate ways.  I don't know what it is about his dogs, but they are enchanting.
The ranger said I was the 105th person she had counted that day, and it was only about 1pm.

Bridal Veil Falls-Wallace Falls 1-25-12

On my birthday, I took the day off, and Dave and I grabbed Cedar and his brother's dog, Junior, and headed out Hwy 2.  I thought with all the snow and the warmer temperatures it would be a great time to see Bridal Veil Falls on the Lake Serene trail at full force.  Unfortunately the trail head was snowed in.  I parked a quarter mile away and we hiked in.  It just got worse from there.  The snow was deep, and where it had drifter- deeper.  The trail was buried under newly fallen trees, branches, and bowed over bushes.  It looked like a couple people had tried to hike it, and following in their footsteps where the snow was compacted was a bit easier.  Once we passed where they stopped though, we were post-holing with every step and it was exhausting.  A bridge was out too, so we forded the icy stream.  I only took a few pictures on this trail. 

So we gave up and drove back to Wallace Falls State Park.  There was just a tiny bit of ice and snow on the trail in places so we were able to easily reach Lower Falls.  It was beautiful out, and the attentive rangers had cleared all the fallen trees and branches from this popular trail. 

Small Falls, usually unimpressive, was quite pretty with all the snow melt.

Lower Falls was pretty as usual with a view of one of the upper falls as well. 

It was a really great birthday, and hiking was just the beginning of it!