Our group of six, Sue, Val Ann, Joleen, Sally and myself, plus Tiffiny the West Highland Terrier met at the Enumclaw Ranger Station to car pool up to the trailhead for the Snoquera Palisades Viewpoint trail. The trailhead is about 1/2 mile north of Camp Sheppard with parking in a wide spot along the east side of Highway 410. After we got our boots on and were getting ready to go, a group of students from Thunder Mtn. Middle School showed up for their hike up to the first (north) viewpoint. There were 115 students, plus teachers and parents! They went zooming up the trail except for some of the adults who could not keep up. There are a couple of nice waterfalls to see on The Dalles Creek. Before getting to the upper falls there is a set of stairs to ascend. There are cedar slabs spiked to a log that has steps cut into it. After getting by the first viewpoint, we had the trail to ourselves as the students turned around and headed back down. We got to the second viewpoint at 3,300' under sunny skies and a view down to the White River. After eatting lunch and lounging around for an hour, we started the trip back down. Four mtn. bikers rode past and were out of sight in a flash as they sped down the trail. We saw a few hikers heading up as were hiking out. Some wildflowers were out and a couple of hawks flew around over us as we were eatting lunch. Another nice day in the mountains.

The trail to the top of the Snoquera Palisades is free of snow and in fine condition, except for a few small blowdowns. The spectacular waterfall located midway up the ascent is running strongly. I made it as far as the second vista point at 4500', but did not linger long as a rain squall swept in soon after I arrived. This is a great early season hike, highly recommended. I used the Camp Sheppard trailhead, which requires a NW Forest Pass. I believe that hikers are not supposed to walk through the camp, but finding the trail the bypasses the camp is difficult. Better signage is needed to guide hikers from the parking lot to the bypass trail, which skirts the camp area on the hillside above.

Finding the trail was a little confusing. Go through the boy scout camp for easier trailhead access. Lots of calypso orchids, indian paintbrushes, a few morels and ceps, garter snakes and a female elk were the fauna and flora highlights of this hike. The waterfall is beautiful. It's a vigorous 100 yards hiking up from the trail to the falls. There are a couple of rockslides on the trail; one of them is somewhat dangerous and makes the trail difficult to follow. Don't slip because you'll go all the way down... The rockslide can be avoided by doing the first half of the loop counter-clockwise and then retracing one's footsteps after reaching the falls. There was a little bit of blow-down but nothing serious. This hike is a rewarding one for the sure-footed.

The trail to Snoquera Palisades begins at the west end of a small dirt pullout along Hwy 410, about a mile west of Camp Sheppard. At .2 mile, there is a junction with the trail coming from Camp Sheppard, 1 mile east. From there, the trail climbs steeply with many switchbacks and steps up a very steep hillside. Before reaching the steps, there is a side trail to the bottom of Snoquera Falls, cascading over rock cliffs. Another falls can be seen through the trees. After climbing about 1200', the trail becomes more level and an overlook is reached. A second overlook is 1 1/2 miles further. There wasn't a view of Mt. Rainier, but we saw several calypso orchids along the swithbacks and some beautiful red paintbrush at the second overlook. Pensteman was just starting to bloom. We talked to two men who were geocashing at the first overlook. We had lunch at the second overlook, then returned the way we had come. The trail continues on and joins the Ranger Creek trail to return to Hwy 410. The boy scouts built and maintain this trail and it was in good condition. In fact, it looked as though they had been working on it while we were up above. There were 2 or 3 logs to step over and 1 to get under, but other than that, the trail was clear.

Using previous trip reports for the area and the “Best Hikes with dogs in Western Washington” book, my pup and I were able to navigate our way around the maze of trails to the falls. Good hike to practice our trail skills together on. I highly recommend this one with your pup. She and I managed up and over (& sometimes under) the few blowdowns on the ascent. Previous trip reports suggested that the boulder fields may be a challenge but my giant pup handled them with surprising agility. She was having so much fun scrambling the trail that she didn’t even notice the snakes I shooed back under the boulders. The falls are running beautifully right now. We both enjoyed the cool spray coming from them. Add to that the warm weather, and it almost felt like I was back under a secret Kauai waterfall. We did just as well on the scramble down as we’d done going up. So many trails to meander along here! The trip was just long enough to poop her out for the evening and part of the next day but she was back to full tilt boogie by Tuesday morning. The road and trails were still quiet up there by Rainier since Chinook Pass was closed and Cayuse had just opened (Papa said they made for great bike climbs that day).