I've always been fascinated with storms just about my entire life. Mother Nature has this unrelenting, unforgiving side of her and when she is ready to unleash her fury, you best not get in her way.
Today, I got to witness how powerful Mother Nature can really be. And I also got to witness just how resilient hikers, backpackers and climbers could really be. More on all of that later.
I set out on a mission to hike up to Marten Lake, (with a back up destination of Otter Falls) and when I got to the trailhead around 8am, there were only a few vehicles. Once geared up, I trudged my way to the junction of Marten off of the Snoqualmie Lake trail. The first 20-30 feet of the trail is very visible. As I climbed higher, the trail slowly started to disappear. I ended up doing some light bush whacking, (which I am not a big fan of) and ended up in a drainage filled with downed trees, and crumbly logs. I backtracked back to the visible trail, and re-worked my way up and around the drainage but the bushwhacking started to get really thick and there were no signs that I was on any kind of trail. So, back down I went, back to the trail. I then worked my way back into the drainage log hopping to the other side but there was no visible trail on the other side. My GPS continued to tell me that I was on the trail but it never really seemed so. There were no visible indications that anyone had been through here despite a trip report or two from a week and a half ago. So, I bagged it and backtracked down to the Snoqualmie Lake Trail and headed for Otter Falls.
The Pacific Northwest had a gnarly winter. Major storms and atmospheric rivers pounded the region leaving devastating damage to the area. To include our hiking trails. That damage is evident on this trail. There appears to be three major trail washouts before Otter Falls and one washout totally changed the landscape and the hiking trail had to be rerouted through the massive granite boulders that pounded through the area. Giant culverts were uprooted and strewn down stream and big trees were toppled over in the wake of the destruction. The biggest washout, (the new route is flagged, by the way) is where I climbed up on the boulders and made my way into the forest just to see the what kind of destruction the washout truly caused. Thousands of shards of granite were scattered about the forest floor- I could imagine the boulders shattering apart on impact which each other. It was quite impressive. After admiring what powers Mother Nature has, I made my way to Otter Falls. And if you are curious about how difficult the flagged route through the washout is, it takes a couple big steps but nothing overly difficult.
Otter Falls is impressive. When I see trip reports about it, I always think it's this tiny little water fall. But it's actually massive. I had the whole place to myself for about five minutes before I shuffled on back the way I came.
I gave Marten Lake another shot, starting up a little before the actual trail hoping I would see the route from a different vantage point. But I ended up in the same drainage area where I couldn't get around. Maybe if I stayed a little more Northwest after the drainage, and just pushed up I would've found the trail.
To those who worked hard to reroute and flag the new trail through the washout, thank you. Your work does not go unnoticed.
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