Stopped by the Franklin Falls trailhead at around 3pm on a Saturday afternoon for a quick hike. Unexpectedly for a dark, rainy afternoon, the Denny Creek road down from Snoqualmie Pass was weirdly busy with cars parked in the middle of the road and off-leash dogs running loose. Also, somebody was doing a photo shoot of a bright yellow convertible (despite the rain) which drove back and forth through the hairpin turn numerous times. The trailhead parking lot itself was busy enough for a dreary day, but there were still plenty of empty spots so I’m not sure why people were also parking on the road.
Before hiking up the busy Franklin Falls trail, I took a small quarter mile detour downstream to the Denny Creek campground to get a few minutes of solitude along the creek. The first section of the creek along this trail is especially beautiful. Back on the main trail, there were many families with small children enjoying the hike despite the adverse weather. (One ambitious hiker was pushing a double stroller up the trail - which was as impressive as it was ill-advised!) The mushrooms are abundant right now, but as it got darker they became harder to harder to spot. The falls were especially good today thanks to all of the recent rain. For the hike back to the parking lot, I took the Wagon Road Trail and saw no other hikers :)
2.75 miles, 1 hour, 450 feet elevation gain
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