This one is going to go on my list of best winter hikes, with the caveat of too many people if you don't time it right. Frozen waterfalls, beautiful mountains, human size icicles, and a winter wonderland forest walk, with a highway cutting through it all made for a great quirky adventure. We made a loop just under 6 miles with less than 1000 ft elevation gain (map link below) and it took us just over 3 hours with lunch and lots of photos. The minimum if you jus go to the falls is about 3.75 miles with 600 ft elevation gain.
We went early and parked at the ski resort (free parking & bathrooms, but fills up). The first bit of the hike is a little odd and involves crossing the road a couple times and climbing up and down a few snowbanks. Some people just opted for walking along the road since getting up the banks was hard without spikes. Once on the trail you quickly get down below the highway, where it is just a dull rumble and we couldn't even hear it over the crunch of our snowshoes and rush of water.
After the falls we walked down along the creek through the forest and snow bombs came down from the trees every so often catching people by surprise. It was fun to watch. On the way back we saw lines of people on the main trail coming in and it was nice to have the snowshoes so we could go up and around instead of waiting and trying to pass each group without ending up waist deep in snow. You could do this with microspikes but I highly recommend snowshoes. There were some occasional very deep post holes in the trail and passing people without floatation is very hard without sinking, especially when there are large dogs.
Our route: www.gaiagps.com/map/?loc=10.3...
There are many other options and trail variations. There are other starting points and you can really customize this to make it as long as you want.
Latest conditions: www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/f...
Check the pass conditions before you go! Know what to expect: • Crossing Mountain Pass...
For more PNW Washington hikes see: savvyexploring.com/post/north...
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Camera (phone): amzn.to/3res9aB
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Snowshoes: amzn.to/3WWsKLT or amzn.to/3GhEkez (We like MSR because they are repairable)
Microspikes: amzn.to/3rdaY6Z0 (Kahtoola or similar, the Yaktrax spring style don't work well)
Daytrip Basics Packing List: savvyexploring.com/post/tipsn...
Shovel: amzn.to/3UAwYag (the ice scraper is a joke)
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