My hike today was completely unplanned. I wanted to get out of the house because a contractor is here banging and sawing. But where to go on a very rainy day?
I first thought of the mall so I put a water bottle and a book in my Rick Steves day bag and headed out. As I drove the rain seemed to lessen and I always want to at least take a long walk and it dawned on me that I could go back to Garfield Ledges, which is totally under a forest canopy, even without my full pack and the gear it contains.
So I drove thru Duvall, Carnation, Snoqualmie and North Bend (past the little diner where agent what’s-his-name had pie and coffee on ‘Twin Peaks’) to I-90, exit 34, and then 12 miles down the Middle Fork Road to the Garfield Ledges trail head. Not much traffic today, no long line of illegally parked cars near Mailbox Peak.
This time, instead of parking at the Middle Fork trail head and taking the connector trail I parked right at the Garfield Ledges trail head so I could gauge how long the hike takes. Jan’s sister and her daughter Jackie are coming to visit in a couple of weeks, and I thought we might do a little outing there. Jan and her sister Deb could visit (perhaps sip some wine) at one of the picnic tables near the trail head, overlooking the river, while Jackie and her dog Flynn and I could zip up the trail for a quick workout. Anyway, it took me 45 minutes car-to-car and I wasn’t trying to hurry.
So the plan just might work, if Deb and Jackie want to do something like that.
I got pretty wet but I didn’t melt.