Swauk Forest Discovery Trail — Monday, Oct. 20, 2025

We tried to drive here a week ago but the road to the trailhead off of Highway 97 had too much snow on it for our vehicle to manage and it was still snowing fairly heavily then.  Today, the road getting to trailhead was snow free with a few potholes, some with water.  Parking lot had only one other car.  We headed out clockwise picking up the trail across the road from the parking lot. We chose this direction, having been here previously, knowing that the majority of larches would be plentiful very soon.  The trail had very little snow and some ice. We saw the beautiful golden larches with the sun shining through them.  Gorgeous. We had sun breaks throughout our hike highlighting the beautiful golden yellow of the needles. After 3/4 of a mile we made it to the top of a high point with spectacular views all around.  We lingered here as long as our bodies could take it as it was very windy and chilly. There was a lot of moisture on the plants which our pants' legs picked up making it a chilly return to the car.  We took a short cut rather than doing the entire loop.  The views and larches were worth the bit of chilliness we encountered.