[Karen]

The trailhead at Exit 34 (lower Twin Falls trailhead) was being posted closed today due to a washout and unstable conditions. To be on the safe side, BJ, Solohiker, Tika and I started from Exit 38 and hiked down to Twin Falls from the Iron Horse cut-off. The trail is in pretty good shape considering the amount of rain and we had no difficulty hiking to Exit 34 (we wanted to see the washed out area). The washed out area wasn't a big deal for us but we could see how it might bother an inexperienced hiker and some stretches of the trail could be undercut and/or eroded. So, for now, play it safe and start from Exit 38. Washington State Park is closing the lower trailhead for a couple of weeks. We started in rain and ended with sun. Not a bad end to an easy hike, a little over 4 miles round trip (from Exit 38 to exit 34). When we hiked back the skies were clear enough that we could see the snowline from the Iron Horse and we are looking forward to hiking or snowsnoeing in snow by next week. Oh, also the Iron Horse trail is closed east bound at Exit 38 due to a landslide. We made the obligatory stop at Snoqualmie Falls on the way home. Even today, the spray/mist made photography almost impossible. Karen

Twin Falls trail, November 9th

Twin Falls, black and white

Monster

Winter trees

Roots

Fallen leaves

At the trailhead

View from the Iron Horse Trail

Stopped to visit this big fellow on the way home

[BarbE]

Karen, quite amazing how much color was left, and your pictures show it well. It was fun to find our reflections in the in all the bubbles.

Girls in a bubble

Umbrella hiker

Big Falls

[Karen]

BJ, Who the heck is that dork with the umbrella? Karen

[Sabahsboy]

The photos are gorgeous. Limited and diffused daylight....you have a steady hand or a trusty tripod. I'd not wait to handle the tripod in such wet conditions. Nice to see the snow line coming down; what is truly amazing is how tame Twin Falls looks. The falls must have been ragging on Monday...like the photo of Deception Creek in another thread. How far can one go on the Iron Horse Trail eastward? Can one walk west of the cut-off trail to Twin Falls? There is a nice falls that an old RR bridge goes over...it is a face on view of the falls on one side; on the other, the falls is under the bridge and you look way, way down. Any potential road access to Iron Horse Tr at the east end of the old highway "bypass" east of the mini-powerplant? That is the road that travels up and allows one to gain easy access to the trail on our "little matterhorn". I like this road...you can head either east or west on Iron Horse TR. West is a nearby "S" bridge. I took visitng friends there in summer; the fellow is a RR enthusiast and travels all around the country to see locations and meet with other persons of like ilk. He can be rather overbearing about what he knows and thought an "S" bridge to be rather commonplace...until he walked out on it and had a long moment of rapture! He had never been over such a large one with so much "air" under it. He took a roll of film and more...just on the bridge...of the bridge. Fascinating.

[Solo Steve]

Nice TR and pictures, ladies -- thanks for scouting it! It's going to be one of the few lowland hikes we have left with all the flooding!

[hikermike]

Silly reply...but The distance from exit 38 to 34 was 4 miles round trip....course the road makes a difference but is is funny on the outside.

[Karen]

My second hike to Twin Falls, this week. This was different in that I was mentoring a new leader for the Mountaineers. All went well and not much to add except that we also went up to Olallie State Park to take a peek at Weeks Falls. Only took a few photos today, having too much fun gabbing with our new leader (solosteve) and those who braved the late autumn storms to join us. Karen PS, photos taken at Olallie State Park/near Weeks Falls (very dark).

Accidental dupe

Water

Below Weeks Falls, Olallie St Park

[Solo Steve]

Twin Falls Redux, indeed! Thanks to Karen as my mentor, and Pipsissewa and 5 others who persevered in the face of a bad weather forecast to let me lead this hike. As it turned out, we just got sprinkled on, and missed the worst of today's weather system.

Sabahsboy, Karen's technique is something we could all aspire to. I walk around snapping the same s**t, different hike, but she just sees something that catches her eye and snaps it -- no tripod, minimal setup. She's got "the eye". And she's not shy about going off-trail to capture the best angle. This is one I took of her probably taking one of the ones in her post!

[Karen]

My friend Lola said it was OK to share this photo of her. It's kind of a funny story. We stopped at one of the mini-marts off Exit 34 and saw some cheap gloves for sale. Lola was wearing hot pink and bought gloves to match and I was in red and I also bought colors to match. It was silly but fun. I tried to talk others in the group to buy gloves to match their predominant color too -- to no avail! Karen

My pal loves pink

[whitebark]