I did the Dalles Ridge Trail and Ranger Creek trails as a part of a Mountaineers mid-week hike. We set up a car shuttle to avoid a four mile valley floor slog back to the Dalles Ridge trailhead. Even with the car shuttle, this is a strenuous 11 mile hike. The west end of the Dalles Ridge Trail, where it climbs the steep canyon of Dalles Creek, is in fine shape, and a great example of trail engineering in difficult terrain. Dalles Creek Falls still has a good flow of water. The trail remains in good shape atop the Snoquera Palisades, but there are numerous blowdowns on the higher part of the ridgetop. When I hiked the trail, clouds obstructed the normally spectacular views here; on a clear day the views of Mt Rainier are glorious. Although the trail tops 5000 feet at its highest point, there is no snow left anywhere on the trail all the way to the Ranger Creek Trail junction. Where the Dalles Ridge Trail meets the Ranger Creek Trail is a shelter that is in good condition. A pocket meadow and spring-fed creek grace the charming environs of the shelter. The upper part of the Ranger Creek Trail is in o.k. shape, but there are many stretches of slumped trail and numerous blowdowns. The lower portion of the trail is in good shape, although excessively gentle grading may frustrate athletic hikers and certainly invites switchback cutting. This trail is almost as bad this way as the Lena Lake Trail. The open forest of massive douglas firs that the trail passes through is magnificent. The Dalles Ridge Trail to the top of the Snoquera Palisades is one of the finest late spring hikes there is; highly recommended!

I printed out trail info for Snoq Falls from the Mt Baker Snoqualmie Natl Forest website and found it tricky to find the actual trailhead using their info. Below is a tip for more clarity. (Note: A couple years ago we attempted to find the trailhead via the Camp Sheppard lot. We finally stumbled onto it, but the boy scouts could sure improve on the trail markings here; there are a lot of unmarked trails in the Camp Sheppard area). This report takes you to Snoquera Falls Trail via Buck Creek Trail #1169. Traveling SR 410 south, look for the Camp Sheppard sign on the left, between MP 52 and 53. At 0.2 miles past the camp sign, pull into a dirt ""driveway"" on left (east) side, just before MP 53. Walk ~100 paces south on a fairly wide dirt path, parallel to SR410. Find a small eye-level sign ""Trail 1169"", Buck Creek on your left. Follow #1169 NE for 0.3 mile to connect to Snoquera Falls Trail #1167. From there, the trail to the falls is pretty well marked. A beautiful early season hike, as pointed out in the Seattle PI last Thursday. A neat side trip for the experienced, sure-footed hiker is to take a short but steep scramble up the side of the falls to get a better view. The trail leads off from the north side of the falls and climbs steeply. Vines provide reasonable hand-holds.

Friend and I were a little concerned as we headed up 410 out of Enumclaw on Saturday morning. It wasn't the rain that bothered us - it was the half dozen sheriff's Suburbans we saw along the road. We got to the parking lot at Camp Sheppard, and a Pierce County sheriff in a blue jumpsuit walked past us. I was a little more concerned when a Department of Corrections van pulled up to the gate of the campground. I asked the sheriff if they were looking for someone. He laughed and told me that there was a huge SAR conference going on at Crystal Mountain. Thus feeling a little more sure that we'd be found if we got lost, friend and I headed up the trail. The trail is clear and snow-free all the way up. There were a half dozen trees across the trails, but the two of us managed to get over or under them with only a minor amount of clumsiness. The falls were spectacular, with enough water to really show off the large drop and the bridal veil, but not enough to keep us from crossing the creek below the falls. No muddy spots, no snow.

A deserted parking lot at Camp Shepard was a surprise at 11:30 on Mothers Day. We thought a short trip to Snoquerra Falls would be just the thing. We headed north out of the parking lot to the amphitheater, turned right and took the left (less developed trail) to go towards the falls, thinking we would check out the nature trail (right path)on the way back. Work has been on-going on this trail, the blow downs increase as you go up. Nothing Maisie couldn’t leap up on or trot under, her humans managed with a few grunts. Lovely wildflowers, the last of the trillium at the start, many orchids along the trail through the woods, and chocolate lilies??? – those green and brown bell-shaped ones - near the waterfall. More varieties looked to be ready to burst open at any time. Trails are a little confusing, follow the signs to Snoquera Falls. We forded the stream below the falls and scrambled up along the old water pipe to the plunge pool on the left side looking upstream. Lots of spray and volume. Definitely cool. We decided not to do the loop because we remembered the ugliness of transecting the rock slide west of the falls a few years ago. Instead we branched onto bits of the White River Trail and Buck Creek Trail to lengthen our loop back. We were aiming for the nature trail near Camp Shepard but somehow ended up on Hwy 410 instead. Quite a few more pooches in the parking lot when we returned. We spoke to some people who did do the loop and found it passable with a small child and 2 dogs.

Snow flakes were starting to fall as I pulled into the empty parking lot for the Snoquera trailhead in Camp Sheppard. The trail started out in good shape and was free of snow however it was pretty confusing where the Snoquera trail left the Boy Scout trails. The trail only gains about 400 feet from the trailhead to the falls but there was surprisingly a lot more snow near the falls. There were also more blown down trees near the falls. The obstacles were worth overcoming though as the falls looked magnificent. I continued on past the falls hoping to complete the loop counter-clockwise. My plan of completing a loop was put to an end soon after the falls where the trail disappeared under a landslide. With no visible safe way around it, this may be the trail’s end. I headed back the way I came but decided to take the trail to the Skookum Flats instead of returning to Camp Sheppard. At the road the sign said the bridge was out but I had to see for myself. Sure enough, there’s not much left of it, just a few cables with dangling planks. There is a fallen tree which one could cross on but I decided to save that butt scoot for another day.