Hiking at Olallie State Park
News ·Sunday August 8, 2010 @ 19:04 EDT (link)
Nice little hike at Olallie State Park; about 45 minutes to get there from Redmond (it's right at I-90 exit 38). I stopped at the picnic area/ranger residence first, didn't see anything interesting, so went on to the next stop and walked the short trail near the falls lookout (I didn't notice the scale, and thought it would be much longer). Nice view of the falls and some nice access points to the river. I then drove back to the Homestead Valley Road trailhead and figured I'd head down the trail to Iron Horse and Twin Falls parks and see how far I could get (started 1600, planned on heading back after an hour if I hadn't gotten there yet). The first part was a bike trail—it overlapped the John Wayne pioneer trail—and had a number of raspberry bushes alongside, with some ripe berries.
I ended up hiking all the way to the twin falls, but wasn't really in shape for such a hike and had trouble coming back (fortunately I had brought plenty of water and some food). Every hill I crested would bring another, which I was sure I couldn't climb, but then I did. The car was a site for sore eyes indeed. It was a little over five miles round trip and took about two hours, with some beautiful forest scenery even on a somewhat overcast day (which also kept the people down). I ran into a wedding party taking pictures when I came out of one trail, near the ranger residence. I didn't take my camera, though, so no pictures—just wanted to hike.
I'd like to get back to hiking consistently so a short hike like this isn't so tough. Maybe next time the Seattle Anarcho-Capitalists hike I'll go along.
Books finished: A Nation of Sheep, The Color of Magic.
