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

We arrived around 0930 and the main lot was pretty open. Leashed up the dog and headed downstairs and across the street to the trail

Please note you have to cross the road to get to the trail. Cars are looking for the parking lot and not you, please be careful

There is a garbage bin behind the bathrooms right before the trail. There isn’t one at the main parking lot.

The trail was a little wet/muddy but totally fine and easy to get around. The trail itself is in great shape, the stairs and easy going up on mostly easy on the way back (the arthritic knee didn’t seem to mind). The views are amazing and there are ample pull outs to take photos

The falls were raging due to the heavy rains that week. You can walk along the rocks to get closer to the falls, the rocks weren’t too slippery.

The smaller dog did just fine on and easily maneuvered up the trail, around obstacles and down the trail. The out and back was optimal distance for her smaller legs.

All in all, a great day hike

Today's objective was Melakwa Lake, but rain turned it into a spontaneous waterfall chasing hike instead. (It's worth noting that of all the contradictory weather reports I had going in today, the most accurate ended up being the Nat'l Weather Service's mountain forecast site. I'll link it below.)

I started out this morning headed for Melakwa. The last few day's rain had really filled Denny Creek and the water was amazing. All the falls were back to full flow. Fall leaves are starting to fade, but there's still quite a bit of color. This trail also is stunning when there are low hanging clouds and mist. 

The rain picked up quite a bit when I got to Keekwulee, so I took the side trail down to the top of the falls to assess. Not too long ago, when it rained like this, the Melakwa trail turned into a stream. That's no longer the case with all the trail and rock work they've done up here. Still, I ended up deciding to head back down.

By the time I got back down, there was a rain window, but it still looked ominous enough that no one was around, so I decided to take advantage of that and head up to Franklin Falls. The Franklin Falls trail was totally the opposite of Denny Creek. There were big pools of standing water in dozens of places and quite a lot of mud. It's not the best trail in the rain. The rocks near the falls and some of the logs in the water were also slippery. 

To avoid the water on the trail, I headed back on the Wagon Road Trail. This is a pretty trail, but also pretty unremarkable. Other than one place with water completely over the trail, it was in great shape and better off than the Franklin Falls trail. It also had a lot of mushrooms of many different varieties.

And of course the rain stopped and the sun came out when I got back to the parking lot. Typical Pacific Northwest.

I only saw three other groups on the Melakwa Lake / Denny Creek trail. There were quite a few more people on the Franklin Falls trail, but not many. I even had a little bit of time with the falls to myself. Lot was pretty empty both before and after my hike.

Ended up with 8 miles total, 1700' of elevation. There was snow above about 4000' at the pass, but I didn't climb high enough today to get into it. Trail temp was 39 starting out and it didn't get much warmer.

We hiked the Franklin Falls/Wagon Road loop for a total of 4 miles. No haze or smoky air today, nice and clear. There were a few people at the falls, but we didn't encounter a single person on the Wagon Road trail. The full loop is free of obstacles and well maintained.

Well maintained, toilets at trailhead. Did it in the rain to avoid the crowds! Glad we did, a little slippery close to the falls.