Went out for a trail run adventure following the big snow/ice/wind storms we had this week. We started in Issaquah on the paved trail, where it is about 2 miles to the high point trailhead from the 1-90/front street interchange, and went to the end at issaquah-Fall City road. There was still a few inches of wet, sloppy snow left, crusted over in some places still from the icestorm. There are very many branches down everywhere littering the trail. We cleared many that we could lift that weren't weighted down with too much snow. The trail is still navigable, and even the several downed trees were easy to climb over, no need for major re-routes. One tree has fallen across the new WTA bridge but didnt seem to hurt the structure other than break the railing. Another has fallen across the new (almost completeed) boardwalk. By another strike of luck (or good karma), the boardwalk was not damaged either but the tree will need to go! It was really great to have what is finished of the boardwalk there to avoid the swamp. On the return trip, much of the snow had melted and the trail had turned into a river in many places so we ended up wet anyhow. The creek crossing would have been a real soaker, but we crossed on a mossy log just below where the creek crosses the trail. Like many other trails in the region right now, this one is going to need lots of clean up, but based on this weekend's adventures, Grand Ridge is better off than what i saw at Tiger or Cougar Mtn. It still took us an extra 90 minutes for the ~14 mile round trip.
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