The East Side Trail from Ohanapecosh to Deer Creek is in great shape; only a couple of down trees and a couple of tablespoons worth of snow to step around. Water levels in the rivers and falls are quite high. We saw two bull elk with big racks and a baby Varied Thrush. A great way to do this hike is park at Deer Creek (about 5 miles south of Cayuse Pass on Hwy 123), ride bikes down to Ohanapecosh (coast most of the way), & walk back one-way (9 miles).

Good choice, 85% snowfree. Snowpatches around and at Deer Creek Camp Site.

A big windstorm toppled some big trees just behind the visitor center at Ohanapecosh and at half mile up the Silver Falls Loop but the trail is in good shape after that all the way up to Deer Creek. There are three trees down north of Ohanapecosh Falls, but are easy to step over.

The Eastside Trail was chosen to avoid the heat and sun, and to celebrate a fellow hiker's birthday. The snow is virtually continuous all the way south to the bridge, though route finding is not a problem, especially after 9 of us plowed our way through. Sparkling cider and a cake survived the several crawls under big trees, so we were in fine shape to celebrate the aging process. The birthday girl felt quite young in the midst of all the ancient trees. Too bad the cars were sitting in the hot sun at the end of our one way trip. Cheers to air conditioning. Took a side trip up to Sunrise and the snow level has dropped appeciably since the week before. However, the trailheads along the road still have snow.