North Bend, Washington

We left the AirBnB fairly early to get a headstart on a long day.  First, we drove to North Bend, Washington.  It was a rather mundane drive with a 1/2 hour backup as we neared Tacoma.  I guess all travel can't be thru pretty countryside and National Parks!

But the drive did turn very nice once we were in the Snoqualmie National Forest.  First hike was 2 miles to see the Franklin Falls.  The hike was along the stream - beautiful mountain stream with crystal clear water.

The falls were lovely and loud!

And the gorge view in the opposite direction was spectacular as well.

 

Duane snapped a photo of me near the falls.

  After a sandwich for lunch, we headed back towards North Bend to do a rather long hike - the Little Si hike.  It was 4 miles roundtrip to a beautiful view of the town of North Bend and the Snoqualamie valley.

Someone should have told me it wasn't a beginners hike, haha.  

Lovely forest.  That quiet walk that you get when there is moss all around....

 

Greenery everywhere.

 

 

 

But the terrain was a bit bumpy.  And 4 miles of this got tedious!

And a bunch of this too....

 About halfway to the top, there is an area that they allow mountain climbing.  There were several folks out risking their lives.....see if you can spot them.

 

 

 

Unfortunately, it wasn't a nice sunny day.  We'd had a few raindrops and the clouds were obscuring the view a bit down the valley.

 

Still lovely though.

We were pretty tuckered out - lots of elevation gain and lots of steps today!